Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria she used to select local authorities to participate in the asylum accommodation pilot involving new council housing.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
New council housing will not be constructed for use by asylum seekers under any circumstances. Asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing.
MHCLG and HO are investing millions in a new, more sustainable accommodation model, developed in consultation with local authorities. This funding helps deliver better outcomes for communities and taxpayers.
This new funding will complement ongoing Home Office reforms to the asylum accommodation estate, including pilot schemes to repurpose derelict buildings and to develop other community-led alternatives to the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers on a temporary basis. In the longer term, the ambition is that the investment leaves a lasting legacy of housing for local communities and reduces pressure on local housing markets.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of the asylum accommodation pilot funding will be from (a) the Government and (b) local authorities.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
New council housing will not be constructed for use by asylum seekers under any circumstances. Asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing.
MHCLG and HO are investing millions in a new, more sustainable accommodation model, developed in consultation with local authorities. This funding helps deliver better outcomes for communities and taxpayers.
This new funding will complement ongoing Home Office reforms to the asylum accommodation estate, including pilot schemes to repurpose derelict buildings and to develop other community-led alternatives to the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers on a temporary basis. In the longer term, the ambition is that the investment leaves a lasting legacy of housing for local communities and reduces pressure on local housing markets.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will declare a national emergency regarding the cross Channel small boat migration crisis.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The number of small boat crossings is too high and this Government is taking action. The Home Secretary has announced the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in decades, removing the incentives that bring illegal migrants to the UK and scaling up the return of those with no right to be here.
The Border Security Command is central to this effort, bringing together law enforcement, intelligence sharing, and international cooperation to disrupt smuggling networks and bring perpetrators to justice. For the first time, we have mobilised the whole of government and all operational partners to deliver a coordinated and prioritised range of activities in the UK and with partners overseas. Our historic deal with the French means those who arrive on small boats are now being sent back.
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, which came into force on 5 January 2026, provides new powers to seize electronic devices from illegal migrants and introduces offences targeting small boat smuggling and concealment in vehicles. These measures strengthen our ability to disrupt organised immigration crime and reduce irregular migration.
Disruption of organised crime groups has intensified, increasing domestic action against organised immigration crime (OIC) via enhanced powers and intensified law enforcement operations, targeting upstream facilitators, disrupting OIC business models via targeting, the illicit financial flows, small boat equipment supply chains and online networks of organised crime groups (OCG)s.
We have boosted the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) capabilities through an extra £100 million funding which will pay for up to 300 extra NCA officers, state-of-the art detection technology and new equipment to smash the networks putting lives at risk in the Channel. This approach is working; the year ending September 2025, there were 3,162 OIC disruptions conducted by public bodies, 33% more than in the previous year (2,374). The number of OIC disruptions has steadily increased from an average of 392 disruptions per quarter in 2023, to 791 per quarter in the latest year.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the asylum accommodation pilot on levels of irregular migration to the United Kingdom.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
While we remain committed to supporting those who are destitute, we must also ensure that the offer of accommodation is decent and humane without becoming a pull factor or placing an excessive burden on taxpayers.
We are moving at pace to fulfil the Government’s commitment to close every asylum hotel by the end of this parliament. Work to facilitate this exit is ongoing, and we are looking at a range of more appropriate sites including ex-military sites so we can reduce the impact on communities.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the asylum accommodation pilot involving the construction of new council housing.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
New council housing will not be constructed for use by asylum seekers under any circumstances. Asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing.
MHCLG and HO are investing millions in a new, more sustainable accommodation model, developed in consultation with local authorities. This funding helps deliver better outcomes for communities and taxpayers.
This new funding will complement ongoing Home Office reforms to the asylum accommodation estate, including pilot schemes to repurpose derelict buildings and to develop other community-led alternatives to the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers on a temporary basis. In the longer term, the ambition is that the investment leaves a lasting legacy of housing for local communities and reduces pressure on local housing markets.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle the use of strip search powers against children.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Stop and search is a vital tool for tackling crime, but it must be exercised fairly and lawfully. Using ethnicity as a factor in deciding whether to stop and search someone, except where pursuing a specific description, is unlawful. Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, referencing the Equality Act 2010, prohibits stops based on physical appearance. Supervision of officers and their use of stop and search powers rests with chief constables.
The Government supports the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Police Race Action Plan, which promotes an anti-racist culture and commits chief constables to address disproportionality, ensuring decisions are based on evidence, not ethnicity. On stop and search in particular, the plan commits that chief constables will identify and address disproportionality in the use of stop and search, particularly in relation to searches of children.
Police performance is assessed by HMICFRS, which reviews stop and search as part of its inspection framework. Where misconduct is identified, the Independent Office for Police Conduct can impose sanctions, ensuring poor performance is addressed.
Stop and search disproportionately impacts particular ethnic groups, disparity rates have fallen recently. Last year, Black people were 3.8 times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people, 9.7 times in 2018/19. Data is key to tackling disparities, and the Home Office continues to work with forces to improve the collection and accuracy of ethnicity data. I am also aware that stop and search has the potential to impact young people, their families and educational attainment. We continue to monitor research on police powers to inform policy development.
Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police, and the Government is clear that such searches must only be conducted when absolutely necessary. While there will be circumstances in which such searches are required in order to protect people, prevent harm, or secure evidence, this must be done with full regard for the dignity and welfare of the individual involved, particularly where the individual is a child.
As set out in the Government’s Manifesto, we are committed to introducing new legal safeguards around the strip search of children. We are working closely with policing stakeholders to deliver this commitment.
The Government recognises the importance of transparency in ensuring that police powers, particularly those involving children, are properly used and subject to effective public scrutiny. Data on strip search is published by the Home Office on an annual basis. The latest data can be found here:
Police custody and pre-charge bail, year ending March 2024 - GOV.UK
Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UK
We keep this under regular review.
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, whether she plans to consult voluntary sector organisations on the costs of immigration policy.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in a Fairer Pathway to Settlement, announced that the standard qualifying period for settlement will rise from 5 to 10 years. However, we have proposed that contributions to life and work in the UK should reduce a person’s time to settlement. This includes work done in the community, such as volunteering.
The earned settlement model, including how volunteering should impact a person’s time to settlement, is currently subject to a public consultation, which closes on 12 February 2026. We encourage voluntary sector organisations to participate and provide their perspective on the proposals.
Wider measures contained within the “Restoring Order and Control” policy statement will be the subject of targeted engagement with relevant organisations at appropriate points during policy development.
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 her Department is taking to ensure that businesses operating in high‑risk sectors are aware of the foreign bribery indicators published by the Serious Fraud Office and Five Eyes partners.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The government takes foreign bribery risks seriously and is committed to helping businesses identify and prevent them. This is why in December 2025, this government published the new UK Anti-Corruption Strategy. The strategy seeks to bring more corrupt actors to justice, prevents them benefitting from their illicit wealth, tackles vulnerabilities to corruption at home and builds resilience overseas. It also commits to helping UK businesses to combat bribery through the Serious Fraud Office’s crime prevention capability and a new online anti bribery resource collection for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Serious Fraud Office, working with its Five Eyes partners, has published indicators to help businesses recognise potential bribery risks. These indicators are available on the Serious Fraud Office website.
The Department for Business and Trade supports this work by signposting guidance to high-risk sectors and encouraging businesses to embed these indicators into their compliance and due diligence processes.
The government will continue to work with enforcement agencies and international partners to raise awareness and strengthen the UK’s approach to preventing foreign bribery, in line with the OECD Working Group on Bribery recommendations.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who have crossed the English Channel in small boats have been linked to proscribed terrorist groups in each of the last three years.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The first priority of Government is protecting national security and the safety of UK citizens. All applications for UK immigration status, including for all those arriving through illegal migration routes, are subject to comprehensive checks.
It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on operational security matters or specific cases. However, where an individual is assessed as presenting a risk to our country, we take swift and robust action.
The Home Office uses various tools to detect and disrupt travel by criminals, by those posing a national security risk, and by individuals excluded from the UK or previously deported from the UK.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what background checks her Department conducts on migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office conducts mandatory identity and security checks on all small boat arrivals.
As part of this process, the Home Office collects biometric data—such as facial images and fingerprints—to establish identity. These biometrics are checked against Home Office systems and other law enforcement databases, including Interpol’s wanted list. This enables us to identify individuals, assess whether they pose a risk to public safety, and determine any breaches of immigration law. These checks are essential to maintaining a secure, fair, and effective immigration system.
In line with the Refugee Convention, refugee status will be denied to those who have committed serious crimes, pose a danger to the community, or present a threat to national security.