Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled ‘White paper sets out reforms to policing’ published on 26 January 2026, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of reducing the number of police forces in England and Wales on (a) local accountability and (b) community policing.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Police Reform White Paper, published on 26 January 2026, set out our ambition to significantly reduce the number of police forces across England and Wales by the end of next Parliament.
We will shortly launch an Independent Review of Police Force structures, which will make recommendations on the optimum number and configuration of forces. The review will consider a wide range of evidence and engage extensively with policing and community stakeholders in making its recommendations.
The White Paper announced that we will require larger forces to be comprised of Local Policing Areas, with policing teams focused exclusively on local policing issues, ensuring that every community is served by visible and responsible neighbourhood officers. The Independent Review will make recommendations on the size and composition of Local Policing Areas as well as examine how governance arrangements will operate in the new model.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding provision for the police.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2026–27 final police funding settlement provides up to £21.0 billion for the policing system in England and Wales.
This is an increase of up to £1.3 billion compared with the 2025–26 settlement, representing a 6.7% cash increase and a 4.4% real terms increase. Total funding to police forces will be up to £18.4 billion, an increase of up to £796 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.5% cash increase and a 2.3% real terms increase in funding.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will submit details of new AI-enabled IT systems to be procured for the proposed National Police Service for select committee scrutiny.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We will be establishing a programme of work with policing to deliver the National Police Service. The immediate priorities are to develop the legislation to bring about the new police force; and to deliver the integration of existing capabilities and systems in phase 1, such as National IT, Commercial, Forensics and National Police Air Service. These will form the initial functions of the National Police Service. Parliament and its select committees will be able to scrutinise the development of the National Police Service and its systems in the usual way
We recently announced over £115 million over the next three years to support the rapid and responsible development, testing and rollout of AI tools across all 43 police forces in England and Wales. This will be spearheaded by the creation of Police.AI, a new National Centre for AI in Policing. Police.AI will support forces to adopt AI tools and software by testing and assuring AI models, helping with scaling implementation, and providing public facing transparency through a registry of AI tools in use by policing.
The Home Office are now working closely with the NPCC AI portfolio to establish Police.AI. This includes recruiting its staff and securing a host organisation. Police.AI will transition into the National Police Service when it is appropriate to do so.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 79231 on Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, what her planned timetable is for determining whether to include China in the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme; and what factors have determined that timetable.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
As set out in the National Security Act 2023, the Secretary of State may make a specification under the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) where they consider it is reasonably necessary to do so to protect the safety or interests of the United Kingdom.
We look very carefully at which countries should be on the enhanced tier of the scheme, factoring in a broad range of considerations.
As I set out in the House of Commons on 20 January 2026, any changes to the countries listed will be brought to Parliament in the usual way.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an estimate of the lifetime net cost of a small boat migrant accepted by the UK.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not carried out an assessment of the lifetime net cost of a small boat migrant who arrives in the UK and we have no plans to do so.
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will set out how complaints relating to (a) cleanliness, (b) safety and (c) hygiene in landlord-provided asylum accommodation are (i) monitored, (ii) reported and (iii) investigated to ensure such accommodation is fit for purpose.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office expects the highest standards of cleanliness, safety and hygiene in all asylum accommodation and holds providers to account through the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services (AASC) contracts.
Contractual expectations are set out in the AASC Statement of Requirements (Schedule 2) which requires accommodation providers and their landlords to ensure that properties are safe, habitable and fit for purpose at all times, including meeting standards on cleanliness, hygiene, repairs and health and safety compliance.
Monitoring of accommodation standards is carried out through Home Office contract management and assurance activity, including inspections and performance reporting against contractual requirements.
Reporting routes are available to asylum seekers through the Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) service, delivered by Migrant Help, which allows issues or complaints relating to accommodation to be raised.
Investigation and resolution of complaints are managed by the Home Office once issues are escalated by Migrant Help. Providers are required to investigate concerns promptly, take remedial action within contractual timescales, and report outcomes to the Home Office.
Independent customer satisfaction and assurance activity further informs performance management and continuous improvement.
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what contractual expectations are placed on landlords providing asylum accommodation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office expects the highest standards of cleanliness, safety and hygiene in all asylum accommodation and holds providers to account through the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services (AASC) contracts.
Contractual expectations are set out in the AASC Statement of Requirements (Schedule 2) which requires accommodation providers and their landlords to ensure that properties are safe, habitable and fit for purpose at all times, including meeting standards on cleanliness, hygiene, repairs and health and safety compliance.
Monitoring of accommodation standards is carried out through Home Office contract management and assurance activity, including inspections and performance reporting against contractual requirements.
Reporting routes are available to asylum seekers through the Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) service, delivered by Migrant Help, which allows issues or complaints relating to accommodation to be raised.
Investigation and resolution of complaints are managed by the Home Office once issues are escalated by Migrant Help. Providers are required to investigate concerns promptly, take remedial action within contractual timescales, and report outcomes to the Home Office.
Independent customer satisfaction and assurance activity further informs performance management and continuous improvement.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to ensure that coastal and rural areas are effectively supported by centralised police forces.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Police Reform White Paper, published on 26 January 2026, set out an ambitious package of reform, including an ambition to significantly reduce the number of police forces across England and Wales by the end of next Parliament.
We will shortly launch an Independent Review of Police Force Structures, which will make recommendations on the optimum number and configuration of forces. This will consider a wide range of evidence in making its recommendations by Summer.
These larger forces will be comprised of Local Policing Areas, with policing teams focused exclusively on local policing issues, ensuring that every community is served by visible and responsible neighbourhood officers. We will also establish Local Policing Guarantees that will set out the minimum levels of service the public should expect to receive from their police force, regardless of where they live.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her planned timetable is for completing the reorganisation of police forces in England and Wales.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government published its Police Reform White Paper on 26 January 2026. It set out an ambitious package of reform, including an ambition to move to fewer, larger forces by the end of next parliament.
We will shortly launch an Independent Review of Police Force Structures, which will make recommendations on the optimum configuration of fewer, larger forces, and the timetable for implementation. The Review is expected to report its findings in summer.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
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 the rollout of facial recognition technology on levels of crime in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
No assessment has been made for the impact of the rollout of facial recognition technology on crime levels specifically within Surrey Heath constituency.
However, a national evaluation is in progress to understand the impact of police use of facial recognition in the prevention and investigation of crime and the impacts on public trust and confidence. Once complete, its findings and a final report associated with it are intended for future publication.