Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the expulsion of the Iranian Ambassador from Australia, what steps they are taking to monitor and counter state-backed interference in the UK by Iran and other hostile states.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government takes state threats to the UK incredibly seriously, including those posed by Iran. In concert with international partners, we will use all appropriate tools at our disposal to protect the UK, and our interests, from state threats.
In March the Government announced new measures to tackle state threats from Iran. This included placing the Iranian state, including Iran's Intelligence Services, the IRGC and MOIS, on the Enhanced Tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS). FIRS is a critical disruptive tool for the UK and went live on 1 July 2025.
The National Security Act 2023 also provides crucial powers to respond to foreign interference and we will strengthen our legislative framework where necessary, including committing to create a new state threats proscription-style tool that will further help to protect the UK.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of robbery and theft-person crime resolution rates in London on public safety.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the serious impact that robbery and theft from the person offences have on public safety, both in terms of the harm caused to victims and the wider implications for communities.
Through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles. This will provide a more visible and effective service to the public, with each neighbourhood having a named, contactable officer dealing with local issues, including robbery and theft from the person.
A significant proportion of these offences involve the theft of a mobile phone which is why the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, leading tech companies and others in February 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, better understand the role of organised crime networks and identify the most effective means of tackling this criminality.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address challenges faced by agencies and the police in identifying individuals within the asylum system who may pose a threat to national security.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The first priority of government is protecting national security.
The Home Office uses various tools to detect and disrupt travel by individuals of national security interest and by individuals excluded from the UK; previously deported from the UK; or using lost, stolen or revoked documents and visas. This includes the use of domestic and international watchlists.
All applications for UK immigration status, including asylum claims, are subject to comprehensive security checks. Where an individual is assessed as presenting a risk to our country, we take swift and robust action.
It is longstanding policy not to discuss either the specific data held on the watchlist, the source of the data or how it is used, as to do so would be counterproductive and harmful to the national security of the UK.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Mayor of London about the reported 58.5 per cent increase in knife crime in London between 2021 and 2024.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office remains in regular contact with the Mayor of London across all knife crime issues.
The Mayor of London and Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime were members of the Knife-Enabled Robbery (KER) Taskforce, chaired by the Policing Minister.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) religious worker visas, and (2) minister of religion visas, have been issued to Iranians since March 2023; who those visas were issued to; and what plans they have, if any, to review that visa system.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas by visa type and nationality in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ on GOV.UK. Data on outcomes of visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance visas dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from January 2005 up to the end of March 2025.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’ on GOV.UK.
The data shows that 1 Religious Worker (RW) and 1 Minister Of Religion (MOR) visa have been issued since July 2024 with a total of 1 RW and 3 MOR visas issued since March 2023. For GDPR reasons, we cannot reveal the identity of the visa holders.
The Home Office keeps all immigration routes under review, including the T2 Minister of Religion and Temporary Work – Religious Worker routes.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) religious worker visas, and (2) minister of religion visas, have been issued to Iranians since July 2024; who those visas were issued to; and what plans they have, if any, to review that visa system.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas by visa type and nationality in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ on GOV.UK. Data on outcomes of visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance visas dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from January 2005 up to the end of March 2025.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’ on GOV.UK.
The data shows that 1 Religious Worker (RW) and 1 Minister Of Religion (MOR) visa have been issued since July 2024 with a total of 1 RW and 3 MOR visas issued since March 2023. For GDPR reasons, we cannot reveal the identity of the visa holders.
The Home Office keeps all immigration routes under review, including the T2 Minister of Religion and Temporary Work – Religious Worker routes.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the Rapid Analytical Sprint reports leaked on 28 January, whether they plan to retain the previous Government’s policy on community engagement or disapply it.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Noble Lord to the response I gave to his question to this House on the 10 February of this year when asked which department will have responsibility for cross-Government engagement principles.
As I stated at the time, the Home Office works on countering extremism, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) continues to lead work on strengthening community cohesion with local councils. It is vital that the two programmes on cohesion and extremism work in parallel.
The findings from the sprint have not yet been agreed by Ministers and we are considering a wide range of potential next steps arising from that work. MHCLG continues to work in partnership with communities and local stakeholders to rebuild, renew and address the deep-seated issues.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has a working definition of Islamism.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
In the context relevant to the Home Office's responsibility for tackling Islamist extremism or terrorism the UK's counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST says that Islamist terrorism is the threat or use of violence as a means to establish a strict interpretation of an Islamic society.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which department is currently working on blasphemy-related extremism; and following the completion of their counter-extremism sprint, which department will then have the lead on countering this threat.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office leads all the work on countering extremism, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government lead all the work on strengthening community cohesion, alongside local councils. The two programmes on cohesion and extremism work in parallel and the two departments work closely together on them.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the context of any handover of responsibility for counter-extremism work from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to the Home Office, which department will have responsibility for (1) cross-Government engagement principles, (2) establishing an extremism-specific due diligence tool, (3) blasphemy-related extremism, and (4) religiously motivated hate crime.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office work on countering extremism, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government continues to lead work on strengthening community cohesion with local councils. It is vital that the two programmes on cohesion and extremism work in parallel.
On the definition of extremism, I refer Lord Godson to the Answer provided by the Security Minister on 22 January to Question UIN 23874, and to the Urgent Question response provided by the Security Minister on 28 January.