Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department uses AI to help verify the age of migrants that arrive in the UK.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has recently announced that the procurement process for a Facial Age Estimation (FAE) algorithm has concluded, and a new contract has been awarded to Akhter Computers Ltd, with Cognitec as sub-contractor. Our current intention is to begin using the technology, which harnesses the power of AI, during initial age decisions at the border, and to provide capabilities to the National Age Assessment Board and Local Authorities to access FAE results.
The Department is planning a series of trials and testing throughout 2026. Subject to the results of the testing, FAE is planned to be implemented from 2027.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many companies sanctioned under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 were found to have sponsored visas in the last five years.
Answered by Jo White - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information requested is not available from published statistics and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
However, sanctions are targeted and specific and do not always prevent a business from continuing to lawfully operate, nor are they necessarily relevant to the purposes for which sponsor licences exist. Continuing to hold a sponsor licence would not necessarily contravene that sanction.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many agency staff were employed by her Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes Staff numbers including agency staff in its Annual report as exampled by the 2024-2025 Annual report, pages 165-166 inclusive at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/688c9785a34b939141463e37/HO_ARA_2024-25_Book_WEB_Final_v3+CorrSlip.pdf.
Prior reports are available at Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigration enforcement officers have left their roles since July 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, other than special advisers if her Department has appointed anyone from outside the civil service since July 2024.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Candidates that have been successfully appointed to a public appointment (whether regulated or unregulated) are generally announced on the Public Appointments Service announcements page. Candidates that have been successfully appointed to a direct ministerial appointment are generally announced on the Direct Ministerial Appointments Announcement portal.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made a recent estimate of the number of people in the UK who have dual citizenship.
Answered by Mike Tapp
The data requested is not available from published statistics. Immigration statistics for the last 10 years are published at Migration statistics. While these include statistics for naturalisation/registration as a British Citizen, they do not include those who are deemed automatically a British Citizen without the need to apply.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what quantity of ketamine has been seized at the UK border in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Mike Tapp
The Government is committed to tackling drug harms through prevention, treatment and enforcement. We are working closely with police, health services and international partners to disrupt supply chains and protect communities.
Data is available via drug seizures transparency data - GOV.UK.
Ketamine seizure quantity (Kgs) (by Border Force) breakdown extracted from gov.uk statistics.
2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/2023 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
299 | 198 | 114 | 133 | 37 | 154 | 1664 | 934 | 769 | 1092 |
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help increase levels of (a) recruitment and (b) retention of neighbourhood police officers in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, the Government has committed to delivering 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel by the end of this Parliament.
Lincolnshire Police was allocated £1,663,470 in 2025/26, and £3,042,016 has been set aside in 2026/27 to support the force’s contribution to this commitment. Forces are able to determine their preferred workforce mix based on local crime demands and deployment of officers within neighbourhood policing is an operational policing decision.
Retention of officers is critical to effective neighbourhood policing. Forces should be using evidence-based approaches to support the retention and progression of existing officers, alongside local recruitment efforts. To support this, the College of Policing provides a platform offering learning, insights and guidance on attraction, recruitment and retention, which forces can use to inform and strengthen local delivery.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many political appointees have been made by her Department since July 2024.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have taken ‘political appointees’ to mean special advisers. A list of special advisers by department is published each year in the Annual Report on Special Advisers which is laid in parliament. The Annual Report on Special Advisers 2026 will be published in due course.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has hired external public relations consultants since July 2024.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home Office Communications Directorate holds contracts with a roster of specialist communications agencies, which currently includes Public Relations. These contracts are utilised to deliver communications campaigns in support of the Home Secretary’s priorities. No external Public Relations consultants have been hired by Communications Directorate outside of these contractual arrangements since July 2024.