Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to reduce the cost of the firearms licence application fee.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Increased firearms licensing fees were introduced on 5 February 2025, enabling full cost recovery for police forces and fulfilling a manifesto commitment.
Firearms licensing fees were last updated in 2015 and had fallen significantly below the cost of delivering the service. We will keep the level of fees under close review.
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 police forces on the adequacy of police resources allocated to tackling fraud.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling fraud is a clear priority for this Government, and I am committed to working with police forces to ensure resources are in place to effectively combat this crime and support victims.
That is why we are publishing a new, expanded Fraud Strategy to strengthen our national response to this crime.
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 steps her Department has taken to help reduce the number of irregular migrants arriving in the UK on small boats.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Border Security Command (BSC) is leading the national response to prevent small boat crossings in the English Channel.
The BSC continues to focus on tackling the organised immigration crime gangs that are facilitating small boat crossings, working with domestic partners such as the National Crime Agency, and overseas counterparts in a range of countries, to dismantle the gangs and disrupt their supply chains. This work has already led to a number of widely publicised raids and arrests, as well as agreements with France, Germany, Italy, Iraq and other key partners which will increase enforcement activity and cooperation further over the coming months.
This summer, the Home Office announced a £100 million funding injection to further strengthen existing law enforcement operations. The funding will pay for up to 300 extra National Crime Agency officers (NCA), state-of-the art detection technology and new equipment to smash the networks putting lives at risk in the Channel.
We have also signed a landmark agreement with France to prevent dangerous small boat crossings. This agreement means that anyone entering the UK on a small boat can be detained on arrival and returned to France by the UK government. The aim is to test the deterrent effect to prevent dangerous journeys by demonstrating that small boat crossings are not a viable way to enter and remain in the UK and to disrupt the organised immigration crime gangs.
Ensuring we have the right legislation in place to take robust, meaningful action to address these challenges is crucial. With this in mind, the UK’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, currently going through Parliament, creates new powers for law enforcement through new criminal offences, expanded data-sharing capabilities and an improved intelligence picture to identify, intercept, disrupt and prevent serious and organised crime, including tackling those who facilitate small boats crossings.
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 with international partners to disrupt cross-jurisdictional fraud networks.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office is committed to leading international efforts to tackle fraud, which is why we are supporting the next Global Fraud Summit in March 2026, hosted by UNODC and INTERPOL. This will be a key event to strengthen the global fight against fraud and will include ministers, private industry and civil society from across the world.
We are also working bilaterally with key countries to build capability and strengthen their ability to tackle and disrupt fraud before it reaches the UK. This has already resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding between UK and Nigeria, signed this spring by Lord Hanson in Abuja, agreeing a clear framework of future collaboration, including on policy development, law enforcement, and information sharing to tackle fraud.
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 charges related to brothels in the last 12 months.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects information on the number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales.
Of those notifiable offences which relate explicitly to brothels, the latest information shows there were 12 charge/summons under offence code ‘024/19 - Keeping A Brothel Used For Prostitution’ recorded by the police in England and Wales, in the year ending March 2025 (excluding Humberside police).
In the same period, there were 0 charge/summons under offence code ‘109/06 – Allowing a child or young person to be in a brothel’ recorded by the police.
It’s worth noting that while these are the only offences explicitly classified as brothel-related, a number of other sexual offences may occur within a brothel setting. However, data on those offences is not collated under a specific brothel-related category.
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 reduce the number of attacks on gamekeepers.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Rural communities – which includes gamekeepers – can be assured that visible, neighbourhood policing is returning to our communities. This Government is clear that when you report a crime, it should be properly investigated with victims having faith that justice will be delivered, and criminals will be punished – no matter where you live.
A physical assault or threat to someone’s safety should always be reported and responded to appropriately - in the case of common assault, if convicted, it carries a six months’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
The Government recognises that there can be challenges in responding to rural crime. That is why we are working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to deliver the next iteration of their Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy. The strategy will set out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling crimes that predominantly affect rural communities.
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 Class A drugs have been seized from organised crime in the last 12 months.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The most recent figures on Class A drug seizures are available in the Seizures of Drugs in England and Wales, financial year ending 2024 statistical release. This publication reports the total number of Class A drug seizures made by police forces and Border Force in England and Wales.
Additional data on Class A seizures made by Border Force are published quarterly as part of the Border Force transparency data. These figures cover England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland combined.
It is not possible to disaggregate these data to identify seizures specifically related to organised crime.
Published sources:
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 cannabis use on streets.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour including cannabis use is a top Government priority, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. The Government has committed to adding 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities and ensuring residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong. It is unlawful to possess or supply cannabis without a Home Office licence and we expect the police to enforce the law. As a class B drug, the maximum penalty for possession of cannabis is up to five years in prison, an unlimited fine or both. Law enforcement agencies will use evidence and intelligence to identify and take action against drug users and change their behaviour.
The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to all forms of anti-social behaviour, including cannabis use.
We remain committed to working across public health, education, policing and wider public services on prevention to drive down drug use and ensure more people receive timely intervention and support.
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 she has made of the annual cost of fraud to the economy; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that cost on departmental funding decisions.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We recognise the financial and emotional impacts that fraud, and wider economic crime, can have. The Home Office does not hold a specific figure on the annual cost of fraud to the economy, however, the estimated total cost of fraud to society was £6.8bn in 2019/20 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64539087faf4aa0012e132cb/Fraud_Strategy_2023.pdf).
We remain fully committed to attracting and retaining the necessary talent in our workforce to crack down on economic crime, including fraud. In FY2025/26, the Home Office is allocating over £160m to public agencies, including law enforcement, to tackle economic crime. Allocations for the next Spending Review period (FY2026/27 onwards) will be confirmed in due course.
The newly established National Fraud Squad (NFS) includes 400 new specialist posts led by the National Economic Crime Centre and City of London Police (CoLP). The NFS is transforming the law enforcement response to fraud, by taking a proactive, intelligence-led approach to identifying and disrupting the most serious fraudsters, domestically and overseas, to prevent frauds from reaching victims.
We are also working with CoLP (in their role as National Lead Force for fraud) to support forces in overseeing wider policing’s activity on fraud, promoting best practice, sharing intelligence, providing training, and holding forces to account on delivery. CoLP continues to push for the prioritisation of fraud within police forces, and influence leadership within local forces to increase dedicated resource towards the fraud threat.
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 (a) funding and (b) staffing for public agencies responsible for investigating (i) fraud and (ii) economic crime.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We recognise the financial and emotional impacts that fraud, and wider economic crime, can have. The Home Office does not hold a specific figure on the annual cost of fraud to the economy, however, the estimated total cost of fraud to society was £6.8bn in 2019/20 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64539087faf4aa0012e132cb/Fraud_Strategy_2023.pdf).
We remain fully committed to attracting and retaining the necessary talent in our workforce to crack down on economic crime, including fraud. In FY2025/26, the Home Office is allocating over £160m to public agencies, including law enforcement, to tackle economic crime. Allocations for the next Spending Review period (FY2026/27 onwards) will be confirmed in due course.
The newly established National Fraud Squad (NFS) includes 400 new specialist posts led by the National Economic Crime Centre and City of London Police (CoLP). The NFS is transforming the law enforcement response to fraud, by taking a proactive, intelligence-led approach to identifying and disrupting the most serious fraudsters, domestically and overseas, to prevent frauds from reaching victims.
We are also working with CoLP (in their role as National Lead Force for fraud) to support forces in overseeing wider policing’s activity on fraud, promoting best practice, sharing intelligence, providing training, and holding forces to account on delivery. CoLP continues to push for the prioritisation of fraud within police forces, and influence leadership within local forces to increase dedicated resource towards the fraud threat.