Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 21 July (HL9153), and to the Written Answer by the Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) on 20 November (HC88718), whether the answer to HL9153 was correct at the time of writing.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Yes the answer was correct at the time of writing.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce legislation to make it illegal for a convicted rapist to obtain a gender recognition certificate to be recognised as a woman.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are significant safeguards built into the process for obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) under the Gender Recognition Act 2004; not everyone who applies is granted one. Additionally, there are safeguards in place to ensure that the relevant authorities can manage the risk posed by sex offenders. These include a requirement for registered sex offenders to notify the police of any changes to their personal information such as change of name. Alongside this, His Majesty’s Passport Office monitors high-risk offenders to ensure they cannot obtain a new passport without police consultation. Failure to comply with requirements in this area is a criminal offence.
The Crime and Policing Bill will introduce a range of legislative changes which will strengthen the management of registered sex offenders, including where they aim to change their name.
Where the police consider it necessary to protect the public or children or vulnerable adults from sexual harm, they will be able to serve a notice on offenders requiring them to seek the police’s authorisation before applying to change their name on a specified identity document (namely, a UK passport, driving licence or immigration document).
Police will also be able to require registered sex offenders to notify them of an intended change of name at least seven days in advance of using it, or if that is not reasonably practicable, as far in advance of their using it as it is reasonably practicable.
We continue to monitor these arrangements to ensure they safeguard the public.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (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 5 November (HL11264), what evidence they have that recording non-crime hate incidents has kept the public safe, and whether they will publish that evidence.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data on crime reduction attributable to the recording of non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs). These are not criminal offences; they are recorded by police forces as intelligence to help monitor patterns of behaviour and community tensions that could escalate into serious harm. This practice, recommended by the Macpherson Inquiry following the murder of Stephen Lawrence, is intended to support safeguarding and public safety. Recording NCHIs enables police to capture information on incidents motivated by hate which, while not criminal, may present safeguarding risks or contribute to rising tensions within communities. The National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing are currently conducting a review of NCHIs. We look forward to receiving the review’s recommendations shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (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 5 November (HL11264), what estimate they have made of crime reduction as a result of the recording of non-crime hate incidents.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data on crime reduction attributable to the recording of non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs). These are not criminal offences; they are recorded by police forces as intelligence to help monitor patterns of behaviour and community tensions that could escalate into serious harm. This practice, recommended by the Macpherson Inquiry following the murder of Stephen Lawrence, is intended to support safeguarding and public safety. Recording NCHIs enables police to capture information on incidents motivated by hate which, while not criminal, may present safeguarding risks or contribute to rising tensions within communities. The National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing are currently conducting a review of NCHIs. We look forward to receiving the review’s recommendations shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will take steps to encourage those survivors who have called for the resignation of Jess Phillips MP as Safeguarding Minister, and made statements that they will not take part in any grooming gangs inquiry while she remains in post, to give their testimony; and what action they will take to ensure that the inquiry has the confidence of all survivors of grooming gangs.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are committed to ensuring that the voices of victims and survivors continue to be meaningfully heard to inform our work to establish the national inquiry into group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse.
We are continuing to engage with those victims and survivors that remain in the consultation group established by the National Working Group (NWG). This ensures that their voices are heard in a safe, supportive environment that is sensitive to the trauma they have endured.
We are sorry that some have felt discouraged and have chosen to leave that group, and we respect their decision to do so. There is a range of views within the victim and survivor community, and it is important that all voices are heard. As we have said to those who left the consultation group, the door remains open should they wish to engage with us further.
In addition, the national inquiry, once established, will develop its own plans for engaging victims and survivors who wish to do so. Baroness Casey is now supporting efforts to identify a Chair that can earn the trust of those who have been let down far too often, and we will confirm the appointment as soon as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to issue guidance to police forces in England and Wales that rapists and suspected rapists are recorded as male in crime statistics.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is considering the implications of the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex within the Equality Act. The Government Statistical Service Harmonisation team, based in the Office for National Statistics, are also in the process of reviewing standards and guidance for statistical data on sex and on gender identity. Once this has concluded the Government will review current guidance to agencies that collect crime statistics across the criminal justice system.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government by what date they plan to appoint a chair of the grooming gangs inquiry.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are working urgently to establish the Inquiry and Baroness Casey of Blackstock is supporting this process. Our immediate priority is appointing a Chair with the credibility and experience to lead the inquiry, ensuring a trauma-informed approach to engaging victims and survivors throughout - from its design to reporting. We aim to announce a Chair as soon as possible. Under the Inquiries Act, the Minister is responsible for defining the scope and structure of an inquiry. Once a Chair is appointed, in line with the requirements of the Inquiries Act 2005, the Chair will play a central role in shaping the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (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 5 November (HL11321), by what date they will publish the data on how many asylum claims have been granted on the basis of fear of persecution in their country of origin because of sexual orientation for 2024.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release on GOV.UK. Data on the number of grants where sexual orientation forms part of the claim is published in table SOC_00 of the ‘Asylum claims on the basis of sexual orientation’ dataset. The latest data relates to 2023.Updated published data from 2023 onwards is currently unavailable due to ongoing work as immigration data transitions to a new case working system and it will be included in a future edition of the Immigration System Statistics Release. There is currently no confirmed date for the next release of this data,but we intend to resume publishing in 2026. Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics,as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics forfuture release.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for Housing on 5 February 2024 (HC8158), what proportion of the budget for social and affordable housing is spent on (1) Ukrainian and Afghan refugee and guests schemes, (2) asylum seekers, (3) migrant workers on the shortage occupation list, (4) dependents of such migrant workers, (5) workers on the health and social care visa scheme and (6) non-UK citizens.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There is not a single budget for social and affordable housing. Most of the income for social housing providers come from rent paid by tenants, some of whom have help from the welfare system to pay it. New social and affordable homes are typically funded by a mix of subsidy from government grant programmes, or through Section 106 agreements in planning permissions, combined with borrowing by landlords against future rental income.
Completed new social homes are allocated to new tenants by local authorities, unless agreed otherwise. Local authorities are responsible for their own allocation scheme for social housing within the framework of legislation.
Eligibility for social housing is tightly controlled. If a person’s visa means that they cannot access state benefits or local authority housing assistance, they are not eligible for an allocation of social housing. Asylum seekers and migrants in the UK on work or student visas are not eligible for social housing.
Data is available for all social housing lettings in England. This data does not include details of official refugee or immigration status, or route into the country. However, it does include details of nationality, based on the self-reported nationality of the lead tenant. The data shows that between April 2024 and March 2025:
These figures are publicly available (attached) in Social housing lettings in England, April 2024 to March 2025 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for Housing on 17 January 2024 (HL9067), how many full time equivalent staff currently work in the self-commissioned homes delivery unit in Homes England.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There are currently three full time employees in the Self Commissioned Homes Unit of Homes England.