Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to help support the road haulage of meat products following the implementation of the EU Entry-Exit System.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government continue to engage the European Commission and member states, and have been working particularly closely with France, to understand their plans for the progressive rollout of EES and to ask for flexible and pragmatic implementation to minimise delays for passengers and freight.
We are also supporting ports and carriers to make sure they have the right technology and processes in place to make EES registration as smooth as possible.
The government have been assured by Kent and Medway Resilience Forum that comprehensive traffic management plans are in place to monitor and respond to any disruption caused by EES registrations at the juxtaposed ports in Kent.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) police officers and (b) civilian staff were employed by the National Wildlife Crime Unit on 1 November 2025.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government recognises the excellent work of the National Wildlife Crime Unit and the National Rural Crime Unit. The NWCU and the NRCU play key roles in helping police across the UK tackle organised theft and disrupt serious and organised crime groups.
This financial year the Home Office has provided a funding boost of over £800,000, which will allow these specialist units to continue their work in tackling rural and wildlife crime which can pose unique challenges for policing given the scale and isolation of rural areas.
The NWCU employs five police officers and thirteen civilian staff and the NRCU employs two police officers and six civilian staff members.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) police officers and (b) civilian staff were employed by the National Rural Crime Unit on 1 November 2025.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government recognises the excellent work of the National Wildlife Crime Unit and the National Rural Crime Unit. The NWCU and the NRCU play key roles in helping police across the UK tackle organised theft and disrupt serious and organised crime groups.
This financial year the Home Office has provided a funding boost of over £800,000, which will allow these specialist units to continue their work in tackling rural and wildlife crime which can pose unique challenges for policing given the scale and isolation of rural areas.
The NWCU employs five police officers and thirteen civilian staff and the NRCU employs two police officers and six civilian staff members.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what resources she has committed to tackling rural crime in Shropshire.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Under our Safer Streets Mission reforms, rural communities will be safeguarded, with tougher measures to clamp down on equipment theft, anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will also ensure that every neighbourhood in England and Wales, including rural communities, will have named and contactable officers dealing with local issues, and that neighbourhood teams spend the majority of their time in their neighbourhoods providing visible patrols and engaging with local communities and businesses.
This will be supported by the delivery of up to an additional 3000 neighbourhood officers into teams by March 26, as part of our ambition to deliver 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this parliament.
This financial year the Home Office has provided the first Government funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit (£365,000) as well as continuing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit (£450,000). The National Rural Crime Unit, assists all police forces including West Mercia, in tackling rural crime
We are also working closely with the National Police Chiefs Council to deliver their updated Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy for 2025-2029. The strategy will set out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling crimes that predominantly affect rural communities.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact on the effectiveness of NHS dental services of removing occupational codes (a) 3213 and (b) 6113 from the Skilled Worker visa eligibility list from 22 July 2025.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 12 May, the Government published its Immigration White Paper ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’, and the first set of immigration rules giving effect to the policies in the White Paper was published on 1 July, including raising the skills threshold to RQF 6. At present dentists remain an eligible occupation as that occupation is skilled to RQF 6.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of dental care professionals who will no longer be eligible for visa sponsorship following the immigration rule changes due to come into force on 22 July 2025.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 12 May, the Government published its Immigration White Paper ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’, and the first set of immigration rules giving effect to the policies in the White Paper was published on 1 July, including raising the skills threshold to RQF 6. At present dentists remain an eligible occupation as that occupation is skilled to RQF 6.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the removal of dental care professions from the list of eligible occupations under the Skilled Worker visa.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 12 May, the Government published its Immigration White Paper ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’, and the first set of immigration rules giving effect to the policies in the White Paper was published on 1 July, including raising the skills threshold to RQF 6. At present dentists remain an eligible occupation as that occupation is skilled to RQF 6.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to include dental care professionals in the Temporary Shortage List.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 12 May, the Government published its Immigration White Paper ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’, and the first set of immigration rules giving effect to the policies in the White Paper was published on 1 July, including raising the skills threshold to RQF 6. At present dentists remain an eligible occupation as that occupation is skilled to RQF 6.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce rural business crime in North Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Rural crime has devastating consequences on countryside communities and the agricultural sector. Through our Safer Streets Mission, rural businesses will be safeguarded, with tougher measures to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent equipment theft and fly-tipping.
Rural communities can also be assured that visible, neighbourhood policing is returning to our communities. On 10 April, the Prime Minister outlined further details about our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, including that by July, every community, including rural communities, will have named and contactable officers dedicated to addressing their issues.
This financial year we are providing the first Home Office funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit, a national policing unit which help forces tackle rural crime priorities and is a great example of farmers and police working together at national and local level.
As one part of efforts to help tackle theft of agricultural equipment, we are committed to the implementation of the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 to tackle the theft and re-sale of high-value agricultural equipment.
In addition, we are providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the police is tackling retail crime. This includes continuing to fund a specialist analysis team within Opal, the national intelligence unit for serious organised acquisitive crime – in partnership with the retail sector – to better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify organised retail crime offenders in every area of the county.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to introduce a national strategy to reduce the exploitation of children in county lines drug trafficking.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A crucial part of our Safer Streets mission is tackling the gangs that entice children and young people into crime. That includes those who run county lines through violence and exploitation.
An estimated 14,000 children are identified as at risk or involved in child criminal exploitation. That is why this Government’s manifesto included a commitment to introduce a new offence of child criminal exploitation, which we will bring forward as part of the Crime and Policing Bill.
Through the County Lines Programme, the Home Office is also targeting exploitative drug dealing gangs whilst breaking the organised crime groups behind this vile trade.
The Programme provides specialist support for children and young people to escape county lines and child criminal exploitation and we will deliver on the Government’s manifesto commitment to roll out further support through prevention partnerships to deliver interventions to support children when and where they need it most.
Policing activity delivered through the Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, the arrest and charge of over 200 deal line holders, and 800 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people.