Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the statement of changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 836), why the period in which a pre-settled status holder can maintain their continuous residence through permitted absence has been set at 30 months in the most recent 60 months, and what was the evidential basis for this decision.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The decision was made following engagement with EU citizens and stakeholders and simplifies the requirements that pre-settled status holders must meet to maintain that status and obtain settled status.
This is a practical change that balances simplicity and flexibility for those who have already shown a commitment to the UK with the need to maintain the integrity of the EU Settlement Scheme by ensuring those applying for the first time meet the pre-existing criteria.
These changes do not widen the initial eligibility requirements for the scheme. First time applicants must meet the existing continuous residence requirements to be granted EU Settlement Scheme status. Maintaining those requirements is essential to maintaining the integrity of the scheme and the wider UK immigration system.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to withdraw the report Group-based child sexual exploitation: characteristics of offending, published by the Home Office on 15 December 2020; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
On Monday 16 June 2025 the Home Secretary set out the Government’s response to Baroness Casey’s National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation in England and Wales, accepting all 12 recommendations it made.
That includes making it a requirement for the police to collect ethnicity and nationality data in every case of child sexual exploitation and abuse. We will announce further details on this measure in due course.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the Baroness Casey Review, when they expect to issue guidance to police forces about mandatory collection and collation of crime and ethnicity data.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
On Monday 16 June 2025 the Home Secretary set out the Government’s response to Baroness Casey’s National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation in England and Wales, accepting all 12 recommendations it made.
That includes making it a requirement for the police to collect ethnicity and nationality data in every case of child sexual exploitation and abuse. We will announce further details on this measure in due course.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Estonia regarding the potential implications of amendments to the Churches and Congregations Act passed by the Parliament of Estonia for the religious freedom, minority rights and civil liberties of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK Government has seen no evidence that suggests the Estonian Government is seeking to limit the practice of religious freedom. Instead, the revised wording of the proposed legal amendment aims to prevent hostile influence from reaching congregation members through the administrative ties of a religious organisation. We have therefore had no ministerial communication with the Government of Estonia on the subject. The UK is committed to promoting the freedom of religious belief for all and we work closely with international partners, including through the Article 18 Alliance, of which Estonia is a member, to champion freedom of religious belief around the world.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to safeguard value for money in public expenditure in respect of monies disbursed through the Towns Fund to Peterborough City Council for the construction of climbing wall facilities at Gunwade Lake.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Peterborough City Council (PCC) as the accountable body for the Peterborough Town Deal has responsibility for ensuring that specific projects, such as the Activity Centre project at Gunwade Lake, represent good value for money, in line with the conditions of their grant funding allocation.
MHCLG undertake regular monitoring of the delivery progress of the Town Deal which is used to inform any future payments.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Pakistan about the deportation to Pakistan of dual national British-Pakistani individuals at the conclusion of their custodial sentences.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
His Majesty's Government is committed to ensuring that foreign nationals who commit serious crimes in the United Kingdom are removed wherever legally possible. However, British citizens, including those with dual nationality, cannot be deported under UK law. British citizenship may be revoked in specific circumstances, though the bar for doing so is extremely high and happens in only a handful of cases every year.
The Government continues to engage with the Government of Pakistan on matters of mutual legal cooperation, including the return of Pakistani nationals following custodial sentences. These discussions are conducted through appropriate diplomatic and legal channels, with full regard to the rights and status of individuals involved.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the smacking ban on police forces in Wales; what assessment they have made of the number of reports that police forces in Wales have received relating to the smacking of a child; and whether there has been an increase since the ban came into effect of parents or professionals who work with children or vulnerable adults being reported to the police.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020 introduced a ban on physical punishment against children in Wales. Assessing the impact of legislation implemented by the devolved Welsh Government is a matter for the Welsh Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 22 May (HL7831), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what discussions they have had with representatives of the higher education sector on the revocation of student visas for foreign nationals convicted of serious criminal offences in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under review, including compliance and enforcement issues within the education sector, in consultation with a wide range of experts and other stakeholders.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times the defence of reasonable chastisement has been raised in English courts since 2015; and whether it has led to any acquittals.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impacts of the declining marriage rate and birth rate in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 11th June is attached.
Dear Lord Jackson,
As Acting National Statistician, I am responding to your Parliamentary Questions asking what steps are being taken to expedite the timely publication of marriage and divorce statistics by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) (HL8355), and what assessment has been made of the potential impacts of the declining marriage rate and birth rate in the United Kingdom (HL8356).
The latest published statistics on marriages[1] and divorces[2] in England and Wales are for 2022. Divorces and Dissolutions in England and Wales, 2023[3] will be published on 2 July 2025. Marriages in England and Wales, 2023[4] is provisionally scheduled for publication in November 2025, alongside Civil partnerships in England and Wales, 2023[5].
The Marriages, Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Act 2019 (which came into force on 4 May 2021) has resulted in a new electronic registration system replacing the paper marriage register. This has improved the timeliness of the submission of religious marriage entries to the General Register Office (GRO) who in turn supply these to the ONS. Following this change to the way marriages are recorded, the ONS have been working to improve the timeliness of publication of marriage statistics and to consolidate the release of marriage and civil partnership statistics to improve accessibility for users and to bring the reference periods in line.
Marriage, civil partnership and divorce statistics incorporate rates as part of the publication; these rates use population estimates by marital status[6] as denominators so these estimates need to be available prior to calculation. The ONS aims to balance the need for timely legal partnership statistics with the timing of publication, and revisions to, population estimates by marital status in order to provide the most accurate rates possible. Estimates for 2023 and 2024 are provisionally scheduled to be published in November 2025.
The ONS does not assess the potential impacts of the declining marriage rate and birth rate in the United Kingdom.
However, in our National Population Projections[7] we analyse past trends in fertility rates to produce a projection of future fertility for the UK. These projections are widely used to support policy making. The numbers of people in each life stage are important when considering dependency ratios, which inform government financial planning. A common measure is the old-age-dependency ratio (OADR), which is the number of people of pensionable age for every 1,000 people of working age. It is projected that OADR for the UK will increase from 278 in mid-2022 to 289 in mid-2032, reaching 302 by mid-2047.
The ONS has published a UK population projection explorer tool[8] which allows users to vary the assumptions for future fertility, net migration and life expectancy to see the impact on the size and age structure of the UK population over the next 50 years.
The ONS publishes marriage and divorce statistics for England and Wales only. National Records for Scotland (NRS)[9] and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA[10]) are responsible for the publication of marriage and divorce statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.
Yours sincerely,
Emma Rourke
[1] Marriages in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics
[2] Divorces in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics
[3] Divorces and Dissolutions in England and Wales: 2023 - Office for National Statistics
[4] Marriages in England and Wales: 2023 - Office for National Statistics
[5] Civil partnerships in England and Wales: 2023 - Office for National Statistics
[7] National population projections - Office for National Statistics
[8] UK population projection explorer - Office for National Statistics
[9] National Records of Scotland (NRS)
[10] Home | Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency