Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Chinese nationals have gained a visa through the Graduate Route in each year since 2021, broken down by (a) undergraduates, and (b) postgraduates.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information requested is not available from published statistics; nor do we break down the data as requested and we are unable to answer without disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether West Yorkshire Police has been supplied, or been wholly or partially funded for, any cars or light vehicles by His Majesty's Government directly, indirectly, or through agents or sub-contractors in connection with or via the Transpennine Route Upgrade project.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Police forces in England and Wales are operationally independent of Government. Decisions on the procurement or allocation of resources, including vehicles, are matters for Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners or equivalents and are not matters the Home Office would routinely be involved in.
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 assessment she has made of the potential security risks associated with rapid increases in temporary recruitment in the delivery sector during peak shopping periods.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not made such an assessment. It is for companies in the delivery sector to act to ensure their employees are of good standing, and that appropriate and proportionate background checks are undertaken where this is deemed to be necessary.
In relation to Royal Mail, Ofcom’s regulatory framework places obligations on them, as the universal service provider, in relation to recruitment, training of employees (including temporary workers) and on security of the mail processes for employees. This does not apply to other delivery operators.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the total capital cost to the government of customs check posts since the UK EU withdrawal.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.
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 steps her Department is taking to support police forces in tackling shoplifting in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level. We will not stand for this.
We are ensuring the right powers are in place. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are bringing in a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We are also removing the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.
Additionally, we are providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the police and retailers tackle retail crime, including continuing to fund a specialist policing team – in partnership with the retail sector - to better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders.
Tackling retail crime requires a partnership approach between policing representatives and business. The previous Minister for Crime and Policing launched the ‘Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy’, which was jointly developed by the police and industry and aims to provide a collaborative and evidence-based approach to preventing retail crime.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to tackle illegal firearm possession.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government works closely with the police and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to ensure that we have the right laws, intelligence, detection and enforcement capabilities to tackle the threat posed by the unlawful possession and use of firearms. While incidents of gun crime, including where illegally held guns are involved, are relatively rare in this country, we recognise the significant and long-lasting impact of such incidents on victims and local communities when they do occur.
Our work with the police and the NCA includes recent and ongoing multi-agency action to target the importation and supply of imitation firearms that can be readily converted by criminals to fire live ammunition, which has seen significant numbers of these guns removed from circulation, helping to ensure the safety of our communities.
We have also included measures in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, currently before Parliament, to make it an offence to possess or supply templates for the 3D printing of firearms. This is part of a broader multi-agency response to the threat posed by the illegal possession of firearms manufactured unlawfully in part, or fully, using 3D printing technology.
There are significant penalties for those convicted of the unlawful possession of firearms, including the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life or injure property.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 5 November (HL11264), what evidence they have that recording non-crime hate incidents has kept the public safe, and whether they will publish that evidence.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data on crime reduction attributable to the recording of non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs). These are not criminal offences; they are recorded by police forces as intelligence to help monitor patterns of behaviour and community tensions that could escalate into serious harm. This practice, recommended by the Macpherson Inquiry following the murder of Stephen Lawrence, is intended to support safeguarding and public safety. Recording NCHIs enables police to capture information on incidents motivated by hate which, while not criminal, may present safeguarding risks or contribute to rising tensions within communities. The National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing are currently conducting a review of NCHIs. We look forward to receiving the review’s recommendations shortly.
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 she has made of the effectiveness of current measures to deter antisocial behaviour in car parks in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
Under the Government's Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we are putting neighbourhood officers back into communities and restoring public confidence by bringing back community-led, visible policing. Surrey Police will receive £2,588,427 as part of the funding settlement for 2025-26.
In addition, the Home Office is providing £66.3 million funding in 2025-26 to all 43 forces in England and Wales to deliver high visibility patrols in the areas worst affected by knife crime, serious violence and anti-social behaviour. As part of the Hotspot Action Fund, Surrey Police will be in receipt of £1,000,000.
Following on from the Safer Streets Summer Initiative, the Home Secretary has announced a "Winter of Action" in which police forces across England and Wales will again partner with local businesses, councils and other agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour and other local issues that matter most to their communities.
In February, we introduced the new Respect Order in the Crime and Policing Bill, along with a range of other enhancements to the existing ASB powers. Respect Orders will be behavioural orders, issued by the civil courts. They will enable courts to ban adult offenders from engaging in harmful anti-social behaviours and can also compel adult perpetrators to take action to address the root cause of their behaviour. Breach of the order will be a criminal offence, allowing the police to immediately arrest anyone suspected of breach. Courts will have a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, imprisonment.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the notice period given to organisers of the farming protest on 26 November 2025 of the cancellation of that protest.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The right to peaceful protest is a vital part of our democracy and will not be curtailed by this Government. However, these rights are not absolute and must be balanced with the rights and freedoms of others.
Section 12 of the Public Order Act 1986 allows the police to impose conditions on a protest as appears necessary to prevent serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community. Any conditions that are considered necessary by a senior police officer can be placed on the protest including the location, route and date of the protest or prohibiting individuals entering any public place specified. There is no timeframe specified in the legislation for notifying the organisers of any conditions imposed.
The management of demonstrations are an operational matter for the police and forces work with organisers to plan protests and assess risks and manage safety. It is not for Government to direct the police in how they should manage protest activity.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the progress in rolling out additional neighbourhood police in (a) England (b) Greater Manchester.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have made £200 million available in 2025/26 to support the first steps towards delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this parliament, including up to 3000 additional neighbourhood officers by the end of March 2026.
The Government has committed to publishing neighbourhood policing numbers every six months, alongside the official police workforce statistics, with the next update due at the end of January 2026 setting out the numbers in neighbourhood policing roles as at the end of September 2025.
Based on their £11,556,938 allocation from the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, Greater Manchester are projected to grow by 176 FTE neighbourhood police officers in 2025/26.