Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad will have its firearms capability removed; and if so, what assessment they have made of that decision.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions around the deployment of armed officers are operational matters for individual chief constables to determine. It is therefore the responsibility of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service to determine how best to meet the operational requirements and make decisions on deployment of armed officers in London.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the 1,000 members of staff allocated to work in immigration enforcement were (1) recruited externally, and (2) reallocated internally.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Since July 2024 the Home Office has redeployed 1,000 FTE staff to increase delivery of the government’s returns and enforcement priorities, these staff have been drawn from across the Department.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to take steps to allow police forces to increase the use of stop and search without suspicion.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Stop and search is a vital tool which enables police to tackle crime and keep the public safe. The Government supports the lawful and appropriate use of these powers.
Where serious violence has occurred or is anticipated, senior officers may authorise the use of stop and search of any individual or vehicle for weapons, with or without reasonable suspicion. These authorisations are limited to a particular area for a specific period of time, usually no longer than 24 hours.
In the year to March 2025, there was a 5% increase in the use of these powers (under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994), compared to the previous year.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Taser 10 devices will be deployed to police forces over the next 12 months.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tasers provide specially trained officers with an important tactical option when facing situations with the potential for violence. The number of Tasers purchased by forces are operational decisions for Chief Officers to determine in line with their assessments of threats and risks.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will make an assessment of the ability of police and courts to detect and prosecute offences relating to coercion as set out in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
As is standard when introducing a new offence, the Ministry of Justice will engage with criminal justice agencies, including the police, CPS, and judiciary, before commencement. These bodies will develop guidance and training through their respective organisations, such as the College of Policing and the Judicial College, to ensure officers and practitioners have the necessary powers, knowledge, and skills to detect and prosecute offences under the Bill.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of extreme left-wing terrorism in the UK, including Antifa and related groups.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, provides a comprehensive framework for tackling all forms of terrorism and is kept under constant review to ensure our approach remains fit for purpose in response to emerging risks and challenges.
As outlined in the publication of the most recent iteration of CONTEST, in July 2023, Left Wing, Anarchist and Single-Issue Terrorism (LASIT) currently represents a significantly smaller terrorist threat to the UK than Islamist terrorism or ERWT and is not currently present in the UK at any significant scale.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals resettled in the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy were identified as a case of interest, broken down by the case of interest reason of (1) criminality, (2) hate crimes, (3) Prevent referrals, (4) perceived failing, and (5) potential media coverage.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Available data on individuals resettled or relocated under the Afghan schemes are available in the quarterly immigration statistics release. Afghan Transparency data is released quarterly. These are available to view on GOV.UK.
The data published in the Immigration System Statistics release gives the number of individuals under ARAP as 21,316. Available rules and guidance on the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy can be found on GOV.UK.
The above is the best available operational data, as of 31 March 2025.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the case of interest guidance distributed to local authorities for assessing applications under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Available data on individuals resettled or relocated under the Afghan schemes are available in the quarterly immigration statistics release. Afghan Transparency data is released quarterly. These are available to view on GOV.UK.
The data published in the Immigration System Statistics release gives the number of individuals under ARAP as 21,316. Available rules and guidance on the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy can be found on GOV.UK.
The above is the best available operational data, as of 31 March 2025.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to combat the abuse of ketamine.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is extremely concerned by the rising use of ketamine in the UK and its dangerous impact on people's health, which may be significantly underestimated by those who use the drug. That is why I have written to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), setting out those concerns and seeking their advice on reclassifying ketamine as a Class A substance. We will carefully consider the ACMD’s recommendations before making any decision on how to proceed.
The Office for Health Improvements and Disparities (OHID) has briefed local authorities and treatment systems on data on ketamine use and harm, and guidance on prevention, harm reduction and treatment interventions. In addition, OHID has been supporting local authorities in increasing access to and retention in drug treatment through the public health grant and the significant increases in treatment funding. As a result, and in response to increased prevalence, the treatment system is responding and the number of adults entering treatment for ketamine use is 11 times higher than a decade ago (Dec 2013 - Nov 24) and proportion of children and young people under the age of 18 young people accessing help in relation to ketamine has increased from under 1% in 2015-16 to 9% in November 2024.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what categories of information, such as name, address, date of birth, they routinely capture about foreign national offenders, and how they store and access this information.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Biodata to establish nationality and identity is obtained and stored on the digital case-working system Atlas. Atlas provides caseworkers access to all the data that they need to manage and progress foreign national offender cases.