Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding her Department has allocated to Wealden District Council for each asylum seeker.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are working closely with key stakeholders including local health partnersto minimise the impact on the local community. Total costs will be included inthe Departments Annual Report and Accounts in the normal way.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has issued guidance to local authorities on (a) when and (b) how often they can issue legal stop notices in relation to the housing of asylum seekers in their areas.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Planning enforcement action is not a matter for the Home Office. This government will close every asylum hotel. Work is well underway, with more suitable sites being brought forward to ease pressure on communities across the country so that the Home Office continues to meet its statutory obligations while also carefully considering the impact on local areas.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many former seasonal workforce officers were offered permanent positions after their contacts ended prior to 2024; and how many vacancies there were for them in 2024.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 23 July to PQ UIN 68079.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) sickness and (b) staff retention rates were of the seasonal workforce in Border force in 2024.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Data on (a) sickness rates for this cohort is not centrally held by the Home Office.
As regards (b) retention, at the start of 2024, Home Office was authorised by the Civil Service Commission to recruit on an exceptional basis up to 1000 SWF staff to meet short term needs as required. This cohort was not under general employment by Home Office but could be offered short term employment contracts, which they were free to accept or reject. These contracts specified there was no expectation of extension or offer of a further contract, on expiry of the initial term. Following the Civil Service Commission confirming that authorisation for this form of recruitment would not be extended beyond early 2025, all SWF staff contracts were ended by 31 January 2025.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the budget was for the seasonal workforce for Border Force in 2024.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The budget for Border Force’s Seasonal Workforce was £9.424m for calendar year 2024.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions waiting time targets were exceeded at major points of entry in 2024.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The specific data requested is not available in an accessible format but below are the relevant statistics taken from Border Force’s transparency data.
Of the 832,739 queue samples measured across the UK in 2024, 97.55% of queues were within Border Force’s service standards above the 95% target. These service standards are 25 mins EU/EEA and 45 mins non-EU/EEA.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) travel and (b) other costs were of back filling shortfalls in Border Force staff in 2024; and how many (i) posts and (ii) hours of time were backfilled.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
There was no shortfall in Border Force staffing against its budgeted headcount in 2024; as such, there were no additional travel nor other costs incurred specifically for backfilling staff, and no posts nor hours required backfilling.
Border Force operates a flexible resourcing model, regularly assessing operational needs and deploying staff dynamically in response to passenger volumes and security requirements. Maintaining the security and efficiency of the UK border remains a top priority, and we continue to allocate resources accordingly to ensure the smooth flow of passengers and goods.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many officers were contracted in the seasonal workforce within Border Force in 2024.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 23 July to Question 68251.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to amend police funding to help tackle extreme misogyny.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office announced the 2025-2026 police funding settlement before Christmas. It provides funding of up to £19.5 billion for the policing system in England and Wales, an overall increase of up to £1 billion when compared to the 2024-25 settlement, and equating to a 5.5% cash increase, and 3% real terms increase in funding. Total funding to police forces will be up to £17.4 billion, an increase of up to £987 million compared to the 2024-25 settlement. Decisions on how funding is used is an operational matter for Chief Constables and locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners.
We are also working closely with the policing sector to deliver improvements in the police response to violence against women and girls (VAWG), including by embedding domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what timetable she has set for establishing specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government recognises the devastating impact of sexual violence and that’s why tackling rape and sexual offences is a key part of our mission to halve Violence Against Women and Girls.
It is essential for police forces to have the right specialist capability to support victims and bring perpetrators to justice. This is why we are working closely with policing to ensure every force has a specialist rape and sexual offences team.
Further details will be announced in due course.