Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the consultation entitled Earned settlement, published on 20 November 2025, whether it is her policy that the salary scale should apply to British National (Overseas) applicants.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains steadfast in its support for members of the Hong Kong community in the UK.
BN(O) visa holders will attract a 5-year reduction in the qualifying period for settlement, meaning they will continue to be able to settle in the UK after 5 years’ residence, subject to meeting the mandatory requirements which include contributing to the Exchequer.
We are seeking views on earned settlement through the public consultation A Fairer Pathway to Settlement and will continue to listen to the views of Hong Kongers. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following that consultation.
In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the BN(O) route will continue to apply.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons police forces reported to the Home Office the ethnicity of victims of racially and religiously aggravated crimes in 40 per cent of cases in the year ending 31 March 2025.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Police forces are required to send ethnicity data for victims of racially or religiously aggravated offences to the Home Office under the Annual Data Requirement (ADR). The Home Office publishes these data annually, with the figures based on self-defined ethnicity.
There are several reasons why these data are not available for every offence recorded. Some crimes, such as racially or religiously aggravated public fear, alarm or distress, will not have a single identifiable victim. This is a public order offence and can be a crime against the state rather than a specific victim. For other offences, the victim may not want to give their ethnicity to the police. There may also be IT issues for certain forces in supplying these data.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of number of hate crimes reported to the a) Sikh Guard and b) Rakkha that were not passed on the police in the last three years.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government remains committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion and will not tolerate anti-Sikh hatred in any form. We continue to work with the police and community partners to monitor and combat this.
No assessment has been made of the number of hate crimes reported to the Sikh Guard and the Rakkha that were not passed on to the police, but we recommend that all reporting services direct reports of hate crime to the police where appropriate.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which recommendations from the Fuller Inquiry he plans to implement; and in what timeline.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 16 December 2025, the Government published an Interim update on government progress in responding to the Fuller inquiry phase 2 report, which is available at the following link:
The interim update set out the solid progress that has been made in taking forward recommendations. Of the 75 recommendations: 11 have been accepted in full; 43 accepted in principle; and 21 remain under consideration. Full details of the status of all recommendations are contained in the published update.
The Government will publish a full response to the inquiry’s recommendations in summer 2026.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many registered organ donors there are, listed by (a) religious and (b) ethnic group.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for organ donation in the United Kingdom, including managing the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR). The following table shows the number of registered organ donors by religion, as of 8 January 2026:
Religion | Number of ‘opt-in’ organ donor registrations |
Christian | 1055179 |
Hindu | 35986 |
Muslim | 27555 |
Jewish | 9851 |
Sikh | 12083 |
Buddhist | 16822 |
Other religion | 44959 |
No religion | 1566903 |
Not stated/reported | 32375474 |
Total | 35144812 |
Source: NHSBT
Note: this data reflects the total number of ‘opt-in’ ODR registrations by religion and ethnic group, including duplicates when individuals have registered more than once and those who have since passed away, this means the total number of reported potential donors in any one group may be overestimated.
In addition, the following table shows the number of registered organ donors by ethnic group:
Ethnicity | Number of ‘opt-in’ organ donor registrations |
White - British | 7062158 |
White - Irish | 174375 |
White - Other | 343510 |
Asian - Indian | 127393 |
Asian - Pakistani | 18508 |
Asian - Bangladeshi | 4936 |
Asian - Chinese | 21307 |
Asian - Other | 46251 |
Black - Caribbean | 25536 |
Black - African | 25707 |
Black - Other | 5467 |
Mixed - White/Black African | 15277 |
Mixed - White/Black Caribbean | 36071 |
Mixed - White/Asian | 39363 |
Mixed - Other | 33825 |
Other | 30976 |
Not reported | 27134152 |
Total | 35144812 |
For further details on ethnic differences in organ donor registration, see the Annual Report on Ethnicity Differences in Organ Donation and Transplantation, which is avaiable at the following link:
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many child sexual exploitation cases were closed with no action in children's services in (a) Birmingham and (b) the west midlands in the last five years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold the information centrally. Birmingham Children’s Trust and other councils and Children’s Trusts in the West Midlands region may hold this information for their areas.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to implement the recommendations of the Independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender in full.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 8th January is attached.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she expects to publish a response to the consultation seeking views on the implementation of measures in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023, which closed on 15 May 2025.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government remains absolutely committed to improving the quality of supported housing and implementing the measures in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023.
The government will publish its response to the consultation as soon as possible, ahead of consulting on draft licensing regulations and guidance. We are also pressing forward with implementing other measures in the Act including the duty on local authorities to produce supported housing strategies, for which guidance will be published in February.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many supported exempt accommodation housing benefit claims in Birmingham during 2024-25 were referred to the Single Fraud Investigation Service; how many of these claims led to an investigation; how many of these investigations found evidence of fraudulent activity by providers of supported exempt accommodation in receipt of direct payment of housing benefit; what actions were taken against providers found guilty of fraudulent activity; how many of these investigations found evidence of fraudulent activity by tenants of supported exempt accommodation; and what actions were taken against tenants found guilty of fraudulent activity.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Referrals of suspected fraud received by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) are recorded under generalised categories for data reporting purposes, and it is not possible to specifically isolate the volume of referrals relating to supported exempt accommodation. Where the DWP feels there is sufficient evidence of benefit fraud in any case, the DWP will refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for Scotland) to consider prosecution. We cannot comment on any on-going investigations, however the DWP will continue to work closely with other Government agencies and Local Authorities to tackle abuse of the Housing Benefit system.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many fraud and error reviews under the Housing Benefit Award Accuracy Initiative were carried out during 2024-25 for supported exempt accommodation housing benefit claims in Birmingham; and what proportion of all claims in Birmingham were these reviews.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
14,000 supported exempt Housing Benefit claims in Birmingham were subject to an Housing Benefit Award Accuracy 'full case review' in 2024/25. This represents 15% of all Housing Benefit claims in Birmingham over the period.