Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle human trafficking in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office works closely with law enforcement agencies and prosecution services to strengthen the operational response to modern slavery and human trafficking, and identify any barriers to prosecution. However, under the devolution settlement for Northern Ireland, responsibility for the policy and legislative response to modern slavery and human trafficking, including policing and criminal justice, rests with the Government of Northern Ireland.
The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) identification system operates UK-wide and the Home Office Competent Authorities identify victims of modern slavery for cases referred in Northern Ireland; the Northern Ireland Executive have voluntarily ‘opted in’ to this model.
In terms of improving identification and decision-making for child victims, the devolved decision-making pilot launched in 2021. The pilot enables decisions about whether a child is a victim of modern slavery to be made by those involved in their care. It also ensures that decisions are closely aligned with the provision of local, needs-based support and any law enforcement response. The pilot has seen a range of benefits including reduced decision-making time, better local understanding of the NRM, modern slavery and exploitation, and improved multi-agency join-up. Following its recent expansion in 2025, it now covers 39 local authorities across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as all Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been resettled in Northern Ireland this year.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Northern Ireland is not a dispersal area and asylum seekers are therefore not routed between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Only those claiming asylum in Northern Ireland are accommodated there. Northern Ireland’s asylum population is, however, proportionate to its population when compared to the UK.
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, and by local authority can be found within the Asy_D11 tab for our most recent statistics release: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of her Department's measures to tackle organised crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling SOC in all its forms in line with the priorities we have set out on crime and policing and security, including the Safer Streets mission and border security. Due to the nature of the threat from SOC requires a whole system approach in tackling it.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) plays a pivotal role in leading the operational response at the national and international level, protecting the public by targeting and pursuing criminals who pose the greatest risk to the UK. That is why as part of the recent Spending Review, the Government has increased the NCA core budget by £120m from 2025/26 to 2026/27, to ensure that the Agency is well-equipped to tackle SOC. A review of the effectiveness and efficiency of NCA by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services is underway and will be published later in the Spring.
As set out in the Government’s Police Reform White Paper, the Department will further strengthen the response to SOC and other threats by creating a National Police Service (NPS). The NPS will bring together the NCA, Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) and the national facing capabilities of ROCUs. This will create a stronger, more coherent centre, delivering real benefit to the public. It will also improve efficiency and increase productivity, saving money to reinvest in local policing.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of resources available to police forces to address antisocial behaviour in local communities.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Antisocial behaviour causes misery in towns and communities across the country, often hitting the most vulnerable hardest. Under our Plan for Change, we have committed to cracking down on anti-social behaviour, including in local communities.
The central aim of our police reforms is to protect and revitalise neighbourhood policing. We are lifting national responsibilities off local forces, so they focus on tackling local issues, like fighting anti-social behaviour.
Under the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee every police force in England and Wales now has a dedicated lead officer for anti-social behaviour, who will work with communities to develop an action plan to tackle ASB, these will be published in early April.
The 2026–27 final police funding settlement provides up to £21.0 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an increase of up to £1.3 billion compared with the 2025–26 settlement, representing a 6.7% cash increase and a 4.4% real terms increase.
Total funding to police forces will be up to £18.4 billion, an increase of up to £796 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.5% cash increase and a 2.3% real terms increase in funding.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help support police forces in addressing rural crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Our police reforms will end the postcode lottery of provision by setting central targets, increasing transparency so people can see how their force is performing, and taking robust action where forces are not performing.
With our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee every neighbourhood, rural or urban, now gets a named contactable officer and a response to non-urgent queries in 72 hours.
Every rural area will be covered by a Local Policing Area under a commander responsible for emergency response, local crime investigation and neighbourhood policing. They will be set targets to ensure they answer 90% of 999 calls within 10 seconds and attend 90% of the most serious incidents within 15 minutes in urban area or 20 minutes in rural areas.
We are ensuring forces have the tools and resources they need to deal with rural crime like equipment theft and livestock rustling. We are on track to deliver an additional 3,000 neighbourhood officers by March.
We are equipping those officers with tougher measures to clamp down on equipment theft and anti-social behaviour, and to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping. We are finally implementing the Equipment Theft Act, which will make it harder to steal All-Terrain Vehicles and GPS units used in an agricultural setting and easier for the police to identify the owners when such items are recovered.
We are ensuring the police have the capability to pursue the organised criminal gangs behind some rural crime. 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) to help them target organised crime groups stealing farm equipment and to disrupt networks exploiting endangered species in the UK and abroad.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve cooperation between law enforcement agencies in tackling cross-border criminal activity.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office works closely with domestic and international partners to strengthen cooperation between law enforcement agencies in tackling cross‑border criminal activity. This includes supporting UK law enforcement’s use of established international frameworks and operational channels, including the UK’s arrangements with the European Union under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, as well as cooperation through organisations such as Europol and INTERPOL.
In line with the Common Understanding agreed at the 2025 UK‑EU Summit, the Department is continuing to build on the strong existing relationship with EU partners to improve practical cooperation against international criminality. This includes improved data‑exchange and operational capabilities, such as strengthened biometrics and criminal records sharing.
The Home Office also continues to develop bilateral and multilateral agreements with international partners to further improve law enforcement and judicial cooperation, where there is a need to do so, ensuring that UK law enforcement agencies are well equipped to prevent, investigate and disrupt criminal activity that operates across borders.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in cyber-enabled fraud in the last three years.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Using the latest data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, the survey estimates that 42% of fraud was cyber enabled in the year ending March 2023, rising to 48% in the year ending March 2024. However, this is likely to be an underestimate. The survey relies on victims self identifying whether the fraud they experienced involved any online or cyber element, and many victims may be unaware of how the offence was committed.
To tackle the levels of fraud in the UK, the Government launched a new Fraud Strategy on 9th March which will focus on disrupting fraud before it reaches a target, safeguarding individuals and businesses by building resilience and responding with victim support and justice.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what evidential basis does her Department use when assessing the safety of return to (a) Kyiv City, (b) Lvivska Oblast and (c) other regions of western Ukraine.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
All asylum and human rights claims, including those from Ukrainian nationals, are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations. Internal relocation is considered under Paragraph 339O of the Immigration Rules. Decision makers must consider whether the claimant would face a well-founded fear of persecution in the place of relocation, and, if not, whether it is reasonable to expect them to travel to, and stay, there.
Our guidance for considering asylum claims, which includes a section on internal relocation, is available on GOV.UK at: Assessing credibility and refugee status: caseworker guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Each individual assessment is made against the background of relevant case law and the latest available country of origin information. Our assessment of the situation in Ukraine is set out in the relevant Country Policy and Information Notes (CPINs) which are available on GOV.UK at. Ukraine: country policy and information notes - GOV.UK
The CPINs for Ukraine are based on evidence taken from a wide range of reliable sources, including reputable media outlets; local, national and international organisations, including human rights organisations; and information from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The evidence base for assessing safety of return is available in the footnotes and bibliography of the CPINs.
Asylum grant rates can vary for a number of reasons, including the protection needs of those who claim asylum in the UK. They can also be affected by operational resourcing and policy decisions, such as changes to the types of cases prioritised for decisions.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what the reason has there been a decrease in the grant rate for Ukrainian asylum applications from 74.2% in September 2023 to 4.5% in December 2025.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
All asylum and human rights claims, including those from Ukrainian nationals, are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations. Internal relocation is considered under Paragraph 339O of the Immigration Rules. Decision makers must consider whether the claimant would face a well-founded fear of persecution in the place of relocation, and, if not, whether it is reasonable to expect them to travel to, and stay, there.
Our guidance for considering asylum claims, which includes a section on internal relocation, is available on GOV.UK at: Assessing credibility and refugee status: caseworker guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Each individual assessment is made against the background of relevant case law and the latest available country of origin information. Our assessment of the situation in Ukraine is set out in the relevant Country Policy and Information Notes (CPINs) which are available on GOV.UK at. Ukraine: country policy and information notes - GOV.UK
The CPINs for Ukraine are based on evidence taken from a wide range of reliable sources, including reputable media outlets; local, national and international organisations, including human rights organisations; and information from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The evidence base for assessing safety of return is available in the footnotes and bibliography of the CPINs.
Asylum grant rates can vary for a number of reasons, including the protection needs of those who claim asylum in the UK. They can also be affected by operational resourcing and policy decisions, such as changes to the types of cases prioritised for decisions.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is for internal relocation within Ukraine when determining asylum claims.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
All asylum and human rights claims, including those from Ukrainian nationals, are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations. Internal relocation is considered under Paragraph 339O of the Immigration Rules. Decision makers must consider whether the claimant would face a well-founded fear of persecution in the place of relocation, and, if not, whether it is reasonable to expect them to travel to, and stay, there.
Our guidance for considering asylum claims, which includes a section on internal relocation, is available on GOV.UK at: Assessing credibility and refugee status: caseworker guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Each individual assessment is made against the background of relevant case law and the latest available country of origin information. Our assessment of the situation in Ukraine is set out in the relevant Country Policy and Information Notes (CPINs) which are available on GOV.UK at. Ukraine: country policy and information notes - GOV.UK
The CPINs for Ukraine are based on evidence taken from a wide range of reliable sources, including reputable media outlets; local, national and international organisations, including human rights organisations; and information from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The evidence base for assessing safety of return is available in the footnotes and bibliography of the CPINs.
Asylum grant rates can vary for a number of reasons, including the protection needs of those who claim asylum in the UK. They can also be affected by operational resourcing and policy decisions, such as changes to the types of cases prioritised for decisions.