Asked by: Lord Moraes (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to collaborate with businesses to track and address the increase in fraud committed against consumers using generative AI tools, including voice cloning.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to working with industry to tackle all fraud, including AI enabled fraud.
The ‘Fraud Strategy 2026 to 2029’ sets out our plan to tackle fraud. The strategy is already delivering a strong, partnership-focussed approach with business, including:
The Government is also working with leading technology companies, academics and experts to develop and implement a world-first deepfake detection evaluation framework. This will help to tackle synthetic media threats, including image, audio and video.
Asked by: Lord Moraes (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what statistics they produce on the number of UK citizens who are victims of online fraud originating (1) within the UK, and (2) outside of the UK.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
According to the Office for National Statistics, there were an estimated 4.16 million incidents of fraud against adults in England and Wales, across 3.4 million victims in the year ending March 2025. 56% of these incidents were estimated to have some online element to them, implying 2.3 million incidents of online-enabled fraud.
We do not collect data on the number of frauds that originate from overseas. However, in 2022, the City of London Police estimated that around 70% of fraud incidents have an international element to them.
We use data from a wide range of sources to build our understanding of the fraud landscape, including published reports from businesses and consumer groups, and surveys such as the Economic Crime Survey. We continue to build the threat picture to better target our interventions, including through our Online Crime Centre launched in April.
Asked by: Lord Moraes (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to collaborate with businesses and consumer groups to gather statistics on the number of UK citizens affected by online fraud.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
According to the Office for National Statistics, there were an estimated 4.16 million incidents of fraud against adults in England and Wales, across 3.4 million victims in the year ending March 2025. 56% of these incidents were estimated to have some online element to them, implying 2.3 million incidents of online-enabled fraud.
We do not collect data on the number of frauds that originate from overseas. However, in 2022, the City of London Police estimated that around 70% of fraud incidents have an international element to them.
We use data from a wide range of sources to build our understanding of the fraud landscape, including published reports from businesses and consumer groups, and surveys such as the Economic Crime Survey. We continue to build the threat picture to better target our interventions, including through our Online Crime Centre launched in April.
Asked by: Lord Moraes (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they collect figures on the number of children (1) seeking to register their entitlement to, and (2) refused a request for, British citizenship under each section of the British Nationality Act 1981 broken down by age group; and if not, whether they have any plans to collect and publish such data.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes quarterly transparency data showing the number of applications for citizenship.
There are currently no plans to publish data with the level of detail mentioned in the question.
Asked by: Lord Moraes (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to including the legal registration rights of adults to be registered as British citizens under the British Nationality Act 1981 within the scope of civil legal aid.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) sets out the matters in scope of legal aid and the eligibility criteria, and seeks to ensure that legal aid is available to those most in need.
The rights of adults to be registered as British citizens under the British Nationality Act 1981 is not within scope of legal aid. Where an issue falls outside the scope of legal aid, individuals can apply for Exceptional Case Funding (ECF). ECF will be granted if, without legal aid, there is a risk that the person’s human rights may be breached. ECF applications are determined by the Legal Aid Agency on a case-by-case basis.
Legal aid is available for separated migrant children for applications for registration as a British citizen or British subject, and for immigration applications for entry clearance, leave to enter, or to remain in the United Kingdom. This provision is available due to the particular vulnerability of this cohort, subject to means and merits testing as applicable.
We regularly engage with other government departments to understand the impact of their policies on immigration legal aid and consider taking action to expand the scope of legal aid where needed.
Asked by: Lord Moraes (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to address the increase in homelessness of refugee households; and what assessment they have made of the impact that the 28-day move-on period for asylum seekers given refugees status has on homelessness levels.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is committed to supporting individuals granted leave to remain to successfully transition from asylum accommodation to mitigate the risk of homelessness.
This Government is aware of the need for a smooth transition between asylum accommodation and other accommodation. The Home Office is working to identify and implement efficiencies to support this process and mitigate the risk of homelessness.
The Home Office has also placed Asylum Move-On Liaison Officers in over 50 Local Authorities across the UK, working alongside the Migrant Help and NGOs to support individuals who will be leaving asylum accommodation, and ensure a successful transition.
An independent evaluation of the impact of the 56-day pilot has been completed. The evaluation gathered insights from local authorities, devolved governments, service providers, and voluntary sector partners.
It is important that we take the necessary time to review this evidence before making any longer-term policy decisions. This measured approach ensures that future arrangements are sustainable and continue to meet our statutory duties while supporting those granted asylum effectively.
Asked by: Lord Moraes (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have had discussions with the government of Australia about any lessons that could be learned from Australia’s introduction of a law to ban under-16s from social media platforms.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government recognises international efforts being made to tackle the issues that arise from harmful content and age-inappropriate experiences on social media. This includes new age-restrictions on certain social media platforms in Australia that are due to take effect from 10 December.
We have a close relationship with Australia and continue to engage closely under the UK-Australia Memorandum of Understanding for Online Safety and Security to share evidence and learn from each other’s approaches to protecting children from harm online.
Asked by: Lord Moraes (Labour - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Moraes (Labour - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Moraes (Labour - Life peer)
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.