Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they hold statistics collected by the Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police on racially and religiously aggravated crimes; and if so, whether there has been increase in such crimes over the past five years.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Official statistics on the five racially or religiously aggravated offences defined in law are published on a quarterly basis. These data are quality assured with the forces prior to publication and released at the Police Force Area level in Home Office Open Data Tables.

The latest statistics show that in the year ending June 2025, the Metropolitan Police Service recorded 17,690, and the British Transport Police recorded 3,525 racially or religiously aggravated offences. For both forces, these were the highest annual totals recorded, with a spike seen in these offences during the disorder in August 2024 following the Southport murders.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their current policy on the collection and publication by police forces of statistics on racially and religiously aggravated crimes, and what discussions they have had with police forces on this matter.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Official statistics on the five racially or religiously aggravated offences defined in law are published on a quarterly basis. These data are quality assured with the forces prior to publication and released at the Police Force Area level in Home Office Open Data Tables.

The latest statistics show that in the year ending June 2025, the Metropolitan Police Service recorded 17,690, and the British Transport Police recorded 3,525 racially or religiously aggravated offences. For both forces, these were the highest annual totals recorded, with a spike seen in these offences during the disorder in August 2024 following the Southport murders.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Royal College of Nursing's analysis that there has been a 55 percent increase over the last three years in nurses facing racist incidents at work; and what assessment they have made of the reason for this increase.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Any form of racism or discrimination is unacceptable and has no place in our National Health Service.

NHS Staff Survey data shows that disabled staff, staff from an ethnic minority background, and staff with other protected characteristics face greater challenges when it comes to abuse, bullying, harassment, and career progression.

Recent incidents of antisemitism and racism in the health service have drawn stark attention to problems of culture and in the healthcare professional regulatory system. Action is being taken to address these issues, including an urgent review of antisemitism, other forms of racism, and the oversight and regulation of healthcare professionals. The NHS is also strengthening mandatory anti-racism training across the NHS. Additionally, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment which will include reducing violence against staff and tackling racism and sexual harassment. They will underpin the NHS Oversight Framework and act as an early warning signal for the Care Quality Commission.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 3 November (HL11143), whether the information regarding citizenship applications for children is obtainable by using a breakdown of applications made under each section of the British Nationality Act 1981 for the last year for which information is available.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Whilst the information is obtainable, it is not currently available from published statistics. The relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking, if any, in response to the British Muslim Trust report, A summer of division: The nationwide surge in anti-Muslim hate, that between July and October 25 mosques were targeted in 27 attacks, with some mosques targeted repeatedly.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The surge in anti-Muslim hatred is deeply alarming. Recent hate crime statistics showed 45% of religious hate crimes targeted Muslims – a record high. This is unacceptable, and we must have zero tolerance of anti-Muslim hatred in any form.

The Government established an independent working group to advise government on a definition of Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia, and how to best understand, quantify and define prejudice, discrimination, and hate crime targeted against Muslims or anyone who is perceived to be Muslim. The group have now provided their advice to Ministers who will rightly take the time to review and consider the advice carefully before confirming next steps in due course.

The British Muslim Trust will receive funding to provide a comprehensive service to monitor anti-Muslim hatred and support victims.

Up to £39.4 million is available for protective security at mosques and Muslim faith schools in 2025/26. This includes additional funding announced by the Prime Minister of £10 million to further strengthen security at mosques and other Muslim community sites.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are seeking to rejoin the Erasmus programme, or an equivalent scheme, as part of their post-Brexit reset plans.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The UK and EU agreed a substantial package to take forward our future partnership, at the first UK-EU Summit in London on 19 May. At the summit, the UK agreed to work towards association to Erasmus+ on mutually agreed financial terms. The government will ensure that any agreement resulting from the negotiations reflects a fair balance between the UK financial contribution and the number of UK participants who receive funding from it.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with the government of Denmark, or past officials or ministers from the government of Denmark, about the operation of the Danish asylum system.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Home Office officials engage regularly with international counterparts - including Denmark - to share best practice and inform development of asylum, returns and border security policy.

A delegation of senior officials from the Home Office were sent to Copenhagen earlier this year to learn about their interventions and draw lessons for the UK asylum and returns system.