Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is her Department's policy on targets for net migration.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government recognises and values the contribution that legal migration makes to the UK.
But under the previous Government, between 2019 and 2024, net migration almost quadrupled, heavily driven by a big increase in overseas recruitment.
The Restoring control over the immigration system: white paper, published on 12 May, sets out reforms to legal migration, so that we can restore order, control and fairness to the system, bring down net migration and promote economic growth.
Previous governments have set targets and then not met them, which has undermined the credibility of the system. Instead, we want to restore public confidence with a series of steps to replace our failing system with one that reduces net migration substantially.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act 2023 in preventing fraud.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Online Safety Act (OSA) was passed in November 2023 and requires all in-scope platforms to tackle fraud on their platforms. The OSA’s first codes, dealing with illegal content, came into effect and were enforceable from March 2025. This means that all in-scope companies will need to put in place systems and processes to stop fraud from appearing on their platforms and services.
In addition, the Act’s fraudulent advertising duty will require the largest companies to appropriately tackle fraudulent advertising. According to Ofcom’s Online Safety Act Roadmap the draft codes for this duty will be published in draft in early 2026.
The Government is working closely with Ofcom on the implementation of the Online Safety Act and will continue to monitor its efficacy as the Act is enforced.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of foreign (a) company and (b) government ownership of British media on national security.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
As a matter of long-standing policy, we do not comment on the detail of security and intelligence issues.
More generally, the Government is committed to a pluralistic media landscape, where citizens are able to access information from a range of sources in order to form opinions. The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport have provided an assessment on the potential impact of foreign states investing in UK Newspapers, which can be found in the Written Statement Ministerial of 15 May 2025 - Official Report Vol 767 Col 17WS.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of foreign governments investing in UK media on national security.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
As a matter of long-standing policy, we do not comment on the detail of security and intelligence issues.
More generally, the Government is committed to a pluralistic media landscape, where citizens are able to access information from a range of sources in order to form opinions. The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport have provided an assessment on the potential impact of foreign states investing in UK Newspapers, which can be found in the Written Statement Ministerial of 15 May 2025 - Official Report Vol 767 Col 17WS.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to include policies on tackling the backlog of (a) maintenance and (b) repairs to policing infrastructure in the forthcoming White Paper on policing.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Home Office plans to publish a Police Reform White Paper later this year. It will set out a comprehensive package of reforms to policing in England and Wales that will drive quality, consistency and efficiency and ensure that all police forces are equipped to deliver the Government’s Safer Streets Mission and Plan for Change.
We have been working closely with policing in the development of these important reforms. The new Joint Home Office and Policing Reform Team, which includes secondees from the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and other policing organisations, have been closely involved in helping to shape the police reform proposals and development of the White Paper.
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 the Spending Review 2025, published on 11 June 2025, how much funding has been allocated to her Department for police station (a) maintenance and (b) repairs.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Paragraph 5.35 of the Spending Review document, published on 11 June, sets out the overall financial allocation for policing in England in Wales.
It is up to Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners to make decisions on local resourcing and estates, including police stations. They are best placed to make these decisions based on their local knowledge and experience.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of Chinese-made drones used by police forces on cyber security.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Decisions on operational equipment are made independently by police forces, who are best placed to assess their own operational needs while ensuring they have the tools necessary to protect the public.
The Government takes national and cyber security extremely seriously and regularly reviews risks, including from Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS). The National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) have issued guidance for security professionals across public and private sector organisations on the appropriate security measures which should be taken to manage potential security risks via UAS technologies, including drones.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with herFrench counterparts on reducing the time taken to check passports at Paris Gare Du Nord station.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Border Force work closely with partners to minimise passenger wait times and deploy officers flexibly and when required to meet demand and support passengers. We have introduced ePassport Gates to Paris Gare Du Nord station in two waves, the last being timed to ensure that we had maximum gate coverage within the allotted space provided to us by SNCF prior to the Paris Olympics. Since eGate deployment, we have lowered the age of people able to use eGates and increased the number of nationalities that are also able to use them. We have also installed new front desk technology that is quicker and more robust than its predecessor. We are also prioritising the deployment of new eGates to Paris and other parts of the rail network when they become available which will help streamline increased passenger fluidity during peak times. Border Force enjoys a strong operational relationship with Eurostar which has allowed us to successfully plan and deploy our resources at peak times – evidenced by the successful recent operational deliveries of both the Paris Olympics in the summer of 2024 and the Easter bank holiday period in 2025 that was equally as challenging from a passenger flow perspective.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure that the cost of firearms licensing does not reduce resources available for other operational policing.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Firearms licensing fees have not been increased since 2015 and are now significantly less than the cost of the service provided by the police.
The Government’s Manifesto includes a commitment to move to full cost recovery for firearms licensing fees, and moving to full cost recovery will help protect the public by providing police forces with the funding they need to properly resource and train their firearms licensing teams, and to carry out thorough checks and continuous assessment of the suitability of someone to possess a lethal firearm.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure that asylum seekers are not deported prior to a final judgement on their case.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Every asylum claim admitted to the UK asylum system is carefully considered on its individual merits by assessing all the evidence provided by the claimant against a background of published country information.
No one who is at risk of persecution or serious harm in their home country is expected to return there.
Refugee status is normally granted when someone has a well-founded fear of persecution under the Refugee Convention.
Those found not to need protection are refused. However, it is only when any appeal rights are exhausted that failed asylum seekers are expected to leave the UK.
A refusal of a protection or a human rights claim can, in some circumstances, be certified under Section 94 and Section 96 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. This process removes the right of appeal against the decision.
Failed asylum seekers may be eligible for help to go home under the Voluntary Returns Service (VRS). Where a failed asylum seeker fails to leave voluntarily, we will seek to enforce their removal.