Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the average processing time for Disclosure and Barring Service checks conducted through Hampshire Police.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is operationally independent from the Home Office.
Accordingly, the Home Office does not hold the information requested on the average processing time for DBS checks conducted through Hampshire Police.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support her Department is providing to fire and rescue services, in the context of levels of increases in central funding.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Overall, fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.87 billion in 2024/25. Decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions are a matter for each fire and rescue authority based on its analysis of risk and local circumstances.
The Home Office will continue to work closely with stakeholders across the sector to ensure fire and rescue services can protect local communities.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether public funds will be made available to Palestinians granted the right to settle in the UK via the Local Authorities Housing Fund.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Palestinians are not directly accommodated under the Local Authority Housing Fund. They can, however, seek advice from their local authority if they need support with housing, who will assess what homelessness duties are owed, based on the circumstances of the household.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber ruling UI-2024-005295 & Ors, whether foreign nationals of any nationality with a family member residing in the UK have the right to settle in the UK.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
No Palestinians have been granted permission to stay in the UK under the Ukrainian Family Scheme. The Home Office does not routinely comment on individual cases.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber ruling UI-2024-005295 & Ors, whether the appellants will be (a) granted indefinite leave to remain and (b) eligible for citizenship.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
No Palestinians have been granted permission to stay in the UK under the Ukrainian Family Scheme. The Home Office does not routinely comment on individual cases.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Palestinians granted permission to stay in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme will be eligible for indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
No Palestinians have been granted permission to stay in the UK under the Ukrainian Family Scheme. The Home Office does not routinely comment on individual cases.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber ruling UI-2024-005295 & Ors, whether the appellants will be entitled to the same access to public funds as people granted permission to stay under the Ukraine Family Scheme.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
No Palestinians have been granted permission to stay in the UK under the Ukrainian Family Scheme. The Home Office does not routinely comment on individual cases.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2025 to Question 29494 on Social Security Benefits: Fraud, if she will make it her policy to (a) record and (b) publish annually the number of benefit fraud investigations which result in benefits being revoked.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is not currently considering changing the data we record or publish about the outcomes of fraud investigations. We are confident that the data we collect and publish in the Annual Reports and Accounts is comprehensive and proportionate – this can be found at the link here: DWP annual report and accounts.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of people that may be eligible to settle in the UK whose cases are being assessed by UK courts.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is not possible to make any such estimate as we cannot predict the outcome of a legal case.
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.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing changes to the Agricultural Property Relief threshold.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and fixing the public finances in a fair way. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.