Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Section 22 of the Department's White Paper entitled From local to national: a new model for policing, published on 26 January 2026, how does her Department define dangerous behaviour; and what criteria do they use to identify it.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
There is no one specific definition of ‘dangerous behaviour’ or any exhaustive list of the criteria for identifying it, as this changes as crime changes and evolves. However, the College of Policing (CoP) provide a non-statutory definition of Potentially Dangerous Persons (PDPs) which states that:
'A PDP is a person who is not currently managed under one of the three Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) categories, but reasonable grounds exist for believing that there is a risk of them committing an offence or offences that will cause serious harm.’
The MAPPA categories are explained Multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) | College of Policing
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part 3 of her Department's White paper entitled From local to national: a new model for policing White Paper, published on 26 January 2026, how many (a) strategic authority mayors and (bi) council leaders will be placed on a Policing and Crime Board.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Policing and Crime Boards will be made up of upper-tier local authority leaders, and where they are present in the force area, Strategic Authority Mayors. This will ensure that the whole force area is represented by elected individuals. The exact number will be influenced by the number of upper-tier local authorities and Strategic Authorities in that area; we anticipate Policing and Crime Boards will be between 5 to 11 members.
Policing and Crime Boards will also include two independent members, to bring unique skills and expertise. They will be required to be supported by a Policing and Crime Lead, who will exercise many of the functions of the Board on their behalf, ensuring that there is a dedicated lead for policing on a day-to-day basis.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part 3 of her Department's White paper entitled From local to national: a new model for policing White Paper, published on 26 January 2026, what her planned timetable is for the review of the police funding formula.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The White Paper represents the most significant reforms to policing for nearly 200 years. The reforms to our policing system set out in the White Paper will have significant consequences for the way policing is funded in future.
Changes to police governance, force mergers and the creation of the National Police Service require a new way of allocating funding between forces, aligned with these new structures. We will therefore review the police funding formula once the implementation of police reform is underway so that the new formula reflects the new police force structures.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Pillar 1 entitled Police Back on the Beat within the white paper entitled From local to national: a new model for policing, published on 27 January 2026, CP 1489, how many police officers constitute a team; and whether neighbourhood policing area teams would be assigned to single council wards.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee (NPG) commitments means every neighbourhood now has named, and contactable officers. The commitments were delivered in line with police forces’ existing team structures and neighbourhood areas based on local needs shaped by a range of factors, including geography, crime types, urban or rural context, and population size and density. The constitution of a neighbourhood policing team therefore varies by force.
The White Paper confirms that we will work with police forces to define and implement neighbourhood areas to ensure they are of a size that makes sense locally and are recognisable to communities. Ultimately, we aim to have neighbourhood areas aligned with local council wards.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of aligning strategic authority mayoral boundaries with new regional policing boundaries.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Police Reform White Paper, published on 26 January 2026, represents the most significant reforms to policing in England and Wales since the service was professionalised nearly 200 years ago. As part of this, the White Paper sets out an ambition to significantly reduce the number of police forces by the end of the next Parliament.
An Independent Review of police structures, which will report this Summer, will examine the optimal configuration of police forces. The review will consider alignment of public service boundaries, including mayoral and local authorities. Mayors and elected local leaders will continue to be a core part of the governance and accountability arrangements for policing.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what are the current boundaries of operational independence for police forces.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Operational independence of the police is a longstanding fundamental principle of British policing. This ensures that Chief Constables maintain direction and control over their police force so that they can perform their role without fear or favour.
There is no statutory definition of operational independence or its boundaries. However, the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 and the Policing Protocol Order 2023 set an expectation that Chief Constables, their officers, and staff exercise professional judgement free from improper political or operational interference.
The Government’s recently published White Paper ‘From Local to National: A New Model for Policing’ announced plans to clarify the boundaries of operational independence to provide policing with direction and support to drive improvement where necessary.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on outcomes of asylum appeals since March 2023.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data on asylum appeals is published in table Asy_D06 and Asy_D07 of the ‘Asylum appeals lodged and determined detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the year ending March 2023.
Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.
Appeals data from April 2023 onwards is currently unavailable for publication due to ongoing work as immigration data transitions to a new caseworking system. Work is ongoing to make this information available, and it will be included in a future edition of the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly release.
Please note that figures for immigration and asylum appeals at First-Tier Tribunal and subsequent stages are published by the Ministry of Justice as part of their Tribunal Statistics release. The latest data relates to January to March 2025.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what quality assurance data her Department holds on the outcomes of initial asylum decisions since 2023-24.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Department publishes asylum decision quality data annually. Asylum decision quality data is published in the ADQ_01A table found in Migration transparency data - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab) of the Immigration and Protection data.
The publication of 2024/25 data has been delayed because we are reviewing the methodology and thresholds for what is published in order to provide greater transparency across all decisions.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing the recommendations in the report Externalised asylum and migration policies and human rights law, published by the Council of Europe.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK has a long-standing commitment to protecting those in need, in line with our international obligations. All asylum claims that are lodged from within the UK and admitted to the UK asylum system, are given full and careful consideration. We have noted the Council of Europe’s report, and we will never remove anyone to a country where they would face persecution or serious harm. We remain firmly committed to this principle.
As required through the Public Sector Equality Duty, Home Office officials consider equality impacts throughout the policy development process. Protecting children and vulnerable people is and will remain a priority.
The reforms set out in the Asylum Policy Statement (Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy - GOV.UK) introduce a comprehensive package of measures designed to restore order, control, fairness, and public confidence in the system. These reforms are fully compliant with our international obligations.
Further policy development is needed on the details of these reforms. We are in the process of consulting meaningfully with affected stakeholders and will carefully assess equalities impacts.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's White Paper entitled From local to national: a new model for policing, published on 26 January 2026, whether the funding announced for Opal is an yearly increase on past and current funding.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Opal is the National Policing Intelligence Unit for serious organised acquisitive crime. In 2023/4 and 2024/5, the Home Office provided £30,000 each year to help set up and run Pegasus which provides for a retail crime desk within Opal.
The Home Office is providing £5 million over the three financial years from 2025/6 to continue to fund Opal’s work with retailers and police forces to identify and dismantle organised crime groups and prolific offenders.