Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the (a) internal checks and (b) admission procedures of sponsor institutions currently subject to action plans in relation to international students from countries with higher rates of subsequent asylum claims.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Immigration White Paper, published 12 May, set out a wide range of reforms, including to student visas, further details of which will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s white paper Restoring Control over the Immigration System, published in May 2025, when her Department will publish the Red-Amber-Green basic compliance assessment ratings for student sponsor institutions.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Immigration White Paper, published 12 May, set out a wide range of reforms, including to student visas, further details of which will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of action plans in preventing compliance breaches by licensed sponsors of student visas.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Immigration White Paper, published 12 May, set out a wide range of reforms, including to student visas, further details of which will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will restrict the number of new international students sponsoring institutions currently subject to action plans can recruit.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Immigration White Paper, published 12 May, set out a wide range of reforms, including to student visas, further details of which will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) total headcount and (b) full-time equivalent number of police officers was in England and Wales as of 30 June in each year from 2015 to 2024.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales, as at 31 March and 30 September each year, on a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis, in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
While data as at 30 June has not historically been routinely collected, between 31 March 2020 and 2023, during the Police Officer Uplift Programme, the Home Office published quarterly data on the number of police officers (headcount only) in England and Wales. This included quarterly data for June 2020 to June 2022 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-officer-uplift-statistics
Additionally, the latest release of the Police Workforce statistics included an ad-hoc Annex to show the number of officers in England and Wales, on a headcount basis, at 30 June 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-30-september-2024/police-workforce-england-and-wales-30-september-2024#annexa
Information prior to June 2020 was not collected centrally.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to promote the wider adoption of drones by fire services.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Fire and Rescue Services have been early adopters of drones which can improve decision making, operational efficiency and reduce risk to firefighters. We work closely with the National Fire Chiefs Council which co-ordinates the use of Fire & Rescue Service Drones, ensuring services are aware of new technology and the benefits available.
Fire and rescue authorities are operationally independent from government and decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions and keep their communities safe are a matter for each fire and rescue authority, based on its analysis of risk and local circumstances. Any consideration of equipment, including drones, will be part of this process.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to promote the wider adoption of drones by police forces.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The decision to use drones and in which circumstances are operational matters for police forces who are subject to the requirements of the Air Navigation Order and Data Protection legislation when operating drones.
Drone technology is developing at a rapid pace, and therefore, in FY24/25 the Home Office has allocated over £4m to support national police-led programmes of work to support police use of drones and explore the benefits that future drones’ capabilities may provide to police operations - including, standardising police operations, trialling innovative use of drones to improve police productivity, and supporting the progression of a future operating model for police aviation that considers both crewed and uncrewed aircraft.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that police officers have confidence in their ability to (a) appropriately use force and (b) use other powers available to them for community policing.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Police officers have the power to use force where it is reasonable, proportionate and necessary to do so.
Oversight of police use of force is provided by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and any death or serious injury during or following police contact must be referred to the Independent Office for Police Complaints.
The College of Policing sets training and guidance for use of force to which police are expected to operate.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will have discussions with West Yorkshire police on the steps being taken to (a) provide support to and (b) respond to threats made against the suspended teacher from Batley Grammar school.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office was in close contact with West Yorkshire Police, who worked with local partners to take swift action at the time to protect the individual involved, in recognition of the significant interest both locally, nationally and across various media outlets. We expect the police to continue to take appropriate and proportionate action in relation to any threats made.
It would not be appropriate to provide further information or details in relation to a specific case. The government remains steadfast in our commitment to tackling those who spread views that promote violence and hatred against individuals and communities in our society, and must always stand up to those who seek to undermine our fundamental values.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the number of assaults in fast-food outlets at (a) night and (b) other times.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Police forces across England and Wales have recently committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. For assaults in fast-food outlets, this could include reviewing CCTV evidence and using the Police National Database for facial searches to identify suspects where appropriate to do so.
The Government is clear that violent and abusive behaviour towards any public-facing worker is never acceptable. We take this issue very seriously and recognise the implications these incidents can have on businesses as well as the victims.
The Government took a significant step and legislated to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This ensures the public facing nature of a victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences.
We have record ever police numbers across England and Wales.