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Written Question
Migrant Workers: Vacancies
Thursday 10th July 2025

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025, when she plans to publish the (a) eligibility criteria and (b) application process for (i) employers and (ii) sectors for occupations listed on the proposed Temporary Shortage List; and if she will set out the criteria for inclusion on the proposed Temporary Shortage List.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to UIN 63590 on 8 July.


Written Question
Gender Based Violence
Tuesday 8th July 2025

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 with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the rest of the UK.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Achieving our commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade requires close cooperation and coordination across Government, public services, the private sector, and the charity sector. Through the Safer Streets Mission Board and VAWG Ministerial Group, we are driving collective action across Government to achieve this. We will set out further detail in a new, transformative VAWG Strategy, which we aim to publish in September.

While crime prevention, policing, and justice policy are reserved matters in England and Wales, we are also working closely with partners in Scotland and Northern Ireland in achieving our shared ambition in tackling VAWG.


Written Question
Migrant Workers: Vacancies
Tuesday 8th July 2025

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish the (a) eligibility criteria and (b) application process for (i) employers and (ii) sectors seeking to have occupations included on the proposed Temporary Shortage List; and what the criteria for inclusion on that list will be.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

An interim Temporary Shortage List (TSL), containing occupations at RQF levels 3-5 which the Department for Business and Trade and His Majesty’s Treasury have identified as being important for the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy was included in Immigration Rules changes laid before Parliament on 1 July 2025 (HC 997).

The TSL will be subject to review by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). Occupations will only be included or retained on the list where the MAC has advised it is justified, where there is a workforce strategy in place, and where sectors are key to the industrial strategy or delivering critical infrastructure. The MAC will be commissioned to undertake this review shortly and will issue a call for evidence to which interested stakeholders should engage.


Written Question
Police: Finance
Tuesday 1st July 2025

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 increase funding for local policing forces.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The 2025-26 final police funding settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1.2 billion when compared to the 2024-25 settlement.

Total funding to police forces will be up to £17.6 billion, an increase of up to £1.2 billion compared to the 2024-25 police funding settlement. This equates to a 7.1% cash increase, and 4.6% real terms increase in funding.

The Government is committed to ensuring police forces are supported to effectively tackle crime. That is why we have committed £200 million to kickstart the recruitment of 13,000 additional neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs in communities across England and Wales.


Written Question
Fraud: Victims
Tuesday 1st July 2025

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

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 people who have been victims of fraud in the last 12 months.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The latest Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) release in April 2025 estimated that there were 3.4 million victims of fraud in the year ending December 2024 in England and Wales.

Further information for Year Ending December 2024 Edition can be found here (Worksheet A4):

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables


Written Question
Terrorism: Northern Ireland
Tuesday 1st July 2025

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 tackle paramilitarism.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The work to tackle paramilitarism in Northern Ireland is led by the Northern Ireland Executive and delivered through the Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime.

The UK Government provides 50% of the funding for the cross-Executive Programme: currently £8m per year. As announced in the Spending Review, a further £8m has been secured for the period from April 2026 to March 2027. The allocation of funding across the Programme is a matter for the Executive and the Programme Sponsor Group.


Written Question
War Memorials: Vandalism
Thursday 26th June 2025

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 prevent vandalism on war memorials.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is committed to protecting war memorials from vandalism and disrespect. Causing criminal damage to such memorials is a serious offence, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.

The Crime and Policing Bill introduces an additional new offence of climbing on specified memorials without a lawful excuse, including the Cenotaph in Whitehall and the statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, reinforcing our efforts to safeguard these important sites.

It is a matter of deep regret that His Majesty’s Official Opposition chose to vote against these measures at the Third Reading of the Crime and Policing Bill on 18 June.


Written Question
Offences against Children: Sentencing
Wednesday 25th June 2025

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

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 Justice on the length of prison sentences for people convicted of offences in connection with paedophile rings.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Home Office Ministers have regular discussions with their counterparts across Government, including the Ministry of Justice, on measures to tackle the heinous crime of child sexual abuse and exploitation and ensure perpetrators face the full force of the law.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, the Government is legislating to make grooming a statutory aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences. This will include (but is not limited to) offences committed by individuals involved in grooming gangs.

Where a sentencing court concludes that a child sex offence was involved or was facilitated by grooming behaviour, it will be obliged to treat this as an aggravating factor, for which a more substantial penalty is accessible.


Written Question
Internet: Fraud
Wednesday 18th June 2025

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 raise awareness of online scams.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The national Stop! Think Fraud campaign helps the public recognise fraud and scams, including common scams people may see online, and the steps they can take to protect themselves, their family and friends.

The website can be accessed at Stop! Think Fraud - How to stay safe from scams and is regularly updated. We are also working with tech companies to promote the messaging of the Stop! Think Fraud campaign on their platforms, as a commitment under the Online Fraud Charter.

Improving public awareness and victim support will be one of the seven key areas in the next Fraud Strategy.


Written Question
Espionage: Prosecutions
Tuesday 17th June 2025

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 people have been prosecuted for espionage in the last 12 months.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

From 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025, seven people have been convicted under espionage offences.

These offences were contrary to section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 and conspiracy to spy offences contrary to section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977.

A number of related cases are proceeding through the courts at various stages though these have not yet concluded.