Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of The Public Order Act 2023 (Interference With Use or Operation of Key National Infrastructure) Regulations 2025 on the ability of the public to protest the use of beagles in scientific research.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
On Thursday 27 November 2025, the Home Office laid an affirmative Statutory Instrument in Parliament to amend Section 7 and Section 8 of the Public Order Act 2023. This will amend the list of key national infrastructure within Section 7 of the Act, to add the Life Sciences sector and define the Life Sciences sector in Section 8 of the Act.
Under Section 7 of the Act, a person commits an offence if:
The amendment is designed to address only certain behaviours impacting the Life Sciences sector. It does not ban protests. It specifically targets deliberate or reckless interference with infrastructure within the Life Sciences sector, that could undermine our sovereign capability to prepare for and respond to a pandemic.
Whether an activity, online or otherwise, meets the criminal threshold within Section 7 of the Public Order Act 2023 will be fact specific and is an operational matter for the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts, who are all operationally independent from the government.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) full time equivalent police officers and (b) headcount police officers there were in Essex Police as at 31 March in each financial year since 2019-20; and how many police officers (i) joined and (ii) left Essex Police in each of those years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of police officers in post, and police officers joining and leaving the police service, on both a headcount and full-time equivalent basis, in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
Information on the number of police officers in post in Essex Police as at 31 March 2007 to 2025 can be found in the ‘Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687f314d8adf4250705c96fa/open-data-table-police-workforce-230725.ods.
Information on the number of police officers joining Essex Police between the years ending 31 March 2007 to 2025 can be found in the ‘Joiners Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687a363b312ee8a5f0806b7b/open-data-table-police-workforce-joiners-230725.ods.
Information on the number of police officers leaving Essex Police between the years ending 31 March 2007 to 2025 can be found in the ‘Leavers Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687a364d312ee8a5f0806b7c/open-data-table-police-workforce-leavers-230725.ods.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department records the nationality and immigration status of people arrested for public order related offences at protests.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on arrests in England and Wales by offence group as part of the ‘Police Powers and Procedures’ statistical series, available here: Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics - GOV.UK
However, as part of this collection data is not collected centrally on the nationality or immigration status of people arrested, or whether the arrest occurred at a protest.
While not routinely collected as part of the statistical data collection, in instances where the police believe the individual arrested is a foreign national, they should contact Immigration Enforcement’s National Control and Command Unit (NCCU). The contact would lead to the recording of details which would include the individual’s nationality. The details provided by the individual allow NCCU to complete an immigration status check to establish the person’s status in the UK, this would also be recorded on HO systems once established. To clarify, such a recording would only take place following contact from the police.
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: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to refuse consideration of the written evidence submitted by the Muslim Council of Britain to the Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Following the appalling attack on a synagogue in Manchester on 2 October, the Home Secretary announced an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October 2025. The Review is being led by Lord Ken Macdonald of River Glaven KC, supported by former Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill KPM.
The Review is engaging extensively with representatives of a wide range of sectors, including faith groups and community organisations, to ensure that all perspectives are considered. Given the Review is independent, it is for the Chair leading it to determine which groups and organisations he wishes to engage with.
Once the Review concludes, the Home Secretary will carefully consider its findings and recommendations before setting out her next steps.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 26 of the Animal Welfare Strategy for England, published on 22 December 2025, whether she plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) making wildlife crimes notifiable and (b) including them in national crime statistics.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Wildlife crime can have devastating consequences for our natural environments and countryside communities. This Government is committed to reducing crime in rural areas and anyone exploiting or deliberately harming British wildlife should face the full force of the law.
There are currently no plans to make wildlife crimes notifiable (which would result in them being included in the national crime statistics). Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to the police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Alice Macdonald (Labour (Co-op) - Norwich North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of technology-facilitated abuse incidents reported to the police in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data on technology-facilitated abuse incidents recorded by police forces in England and Wales.
The rapid development of technology has provided additional spaces for technology facilitated abuse and violence against women and girls (VAWG) to be perpetrated and has equipped perpetrators with new ways to harass, intimidate, stalk and coerce women and girls.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of The Public Order Act 2023 (Interference With Use or Operation of Key National Infrastructure) Regulations 2025 on the ability of (a) students and (b) academics to protest the use of animals in scientific research by universities.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
On Thursday 27 November 2025, the Home Office laid an affirmative Statutory Instrument in Parliament to amend Section 7 and Section 8 of the Public Order Act 2023. This will amend the list of key national infrastructure within Section 7 of the Act, to add the Life Sciences sector and define the Life Sciences sector in Section 8 of the Act.
The definition of ‘Life Sciences sector’ for the purpose of this legislation to be added to Section 8 of the Act is: “infrastructure that primarily facilitates pharmaceutical research, or the development or manufacturing of pharmaceutical products; or which is used in connection to activities authorised under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986”.
Under Section 7 of the Public Order Act 2023, a person commits an offence if:
The amendment is designed to address only certain behaviours impacting the Life Sciences sector. It does not ban protests. It specifically targets deliberate or reckless interference with infrastructure within the Life Sciences sector, that could undermine our sovereign capability to prepare for and respond to a pandemic.
Whether an activity meets the criminal threshold within Section 7 of the Public Order Act 2023 will be fact specific and is an operational matter for the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts, who are all operationally independent from the government.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of occasions the police has (a) investigated and (b) charged abortion practitioners in relation to abortions suspected to have taken place on the basis of sex in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of notifiable offences and their investigative outcomes recorded by the police in England and Wales. This includes the number of offences of procuring illegal abortion and intentional destruction of a viable unborn child. This information is published as official statistics each quarter and the latest information, to the year ending June 2025, can be accessed here:
Information is not held on whether the abortion took place on the basis of sex or the status of the individual charged.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many retailers have been prosecuted for the sale of non-compliant or illegal vaping products in each of the last five years in (a) Suffolk Coastal, (b) Suffolk and (c) East Anglia.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold information on prosecutions for the sale of illegal vaping products as the prosecuting authority for such offences is primarily local authority Trading Standards departments.