Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 16 of the Police reform white paper, From Local to National: A New Model for Policing (CP1489), by when will the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme be fully operational.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) was announced in November 2024 as part of the Government’s manifesto commitment to set a up a programme to drive down costs in policing.
The programme is operational and already making savings. Some examples of the work already underway includes signing 39 forces up to a new commercial energy strategy and piloting central purchasing within policing. These savings will be fully validated and assured after the conclusion of the financial year.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 13 of the Police reform white paper “From Local to National: A New Model for Policing” (CP1489), by when will she publish her new Fraud Strategy.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s Manifesto set a clear commitment to deliver a new Fraud Strategy. This commitment will be delivered in early 2026.
The Strategy has been developed in close collaboration with stakeholders from industry, law enforcement and non profit organisations. It will set out how we will disrupt fraud, safeguard individuals and businesses and respond to fraud with support and justice for victims.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 27 January (HL13553), who is responsible for conducting the research into grooming gang perpetrators' backgrounds and motivations; when that research is expected to be complete; and when that research will be published.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary has commissioned UK Research and Innovation to deliver this new programme of research, which will address evidence gaps in our understanding of the backgrounds, motivations, and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation offending. We expect the programme of research to be a multi-year project, with individual research projects reporting through its duration. Further details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of awarding the contract for vessels for Border Force to UK shipyards on the number of jobs and apprenticeships.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
A dynamic UK shipbuilding sector has potential to play a key role in creating and sustaining jobs and in ensuring shared prosperity around the country. The Maritime Capabilities Replacement Programme procurement will require all bidders to deliver social value, with fair work and resilient supply chains identified as key priorities.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her department is taking to ensure that every child in care has their immigration status resolved before turning 18.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The previous Home Secretary set out in the Immigration White Paper published on 12 May 2025 that the Home Office will ensure children who have been in the UK for some time, turn 18 and discover they do not have status, are fully supported and able to regularise their status and settle where appropriate. This will also include a clear pathway for those children in care and care leavers.
This commitment will be delivered primarily through an update to the ‘children in care policy.
As part of this, separate targeted engagement will take place with external stakeholders to help us to understand the challenges in this area and develop a policy solution which supports children in care without status while upholding the need to have a robust and coherent migration system. Children who have claimed asylum are dealt with under separate provisions.
A range of reforms are underway across the immigration and asylum system, and the development of a clear pathway to settlement for children in care and care leavers must be considered alongside these changes.
When handling child applications, all caseworkers must comply with their duty under Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Further detail on this will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to provide exemptions from Electronic Travel Authorisation for children living abroad who hold dual citizenship having inherited their British Citizenship from a Parent but who do not possess a British Passport.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
British citizens with dual nationality (including those who acquired British citizenship from birth), are already exempt from the requirement to obtain an electronic travel authorisation when travelling to the UK.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing emergency visas to students in Gaza who have confirmed UK university places; and whether her Department has had recent discussions with UK universities on facilitating safe passage for affected students.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government provided exceptional support to enable the departure of Chevening Scholars and fully funded scholarship students from Gaza, for students whose courses began before 31 December 2025. This support was for students who met the relevant requirements of the Immigration Rules.
The Government is reviewing the impact of the policy implemented to-date, and any decision on further support will depend on the evolving international situation. We will continue to keep the policy under review.
This has been a cross-Government initiative and the Home Office, Department for Education and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office have engaged with Higher Education Institutions throughout this process.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2026 to Question 104868, what the service standard wait times at passport control are, and what assessment the Department has made of the economic impact of passenger delays at the border.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Border Force publish data on the percentage of sampled measurements cleared within service standards, with the target of 95%.
The service standard is 25 minutes for passengers using eGates or queues where the majority of passengers are GBR/ EEA/ B5JSSK nationalities / 45 minutes for passengers using queues dedicated to other nationalities.
The latest published data was Quarter 3 2025 (Jul-Sept) which showed 97.9% of sampled measurements were cleared within service standards.
The Department for Business and Trade will be best placed to provide information on the economic impact of passenger delays at the border.
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 the average cost per unaccompanied asylum-seeking child to local authorities was in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Support for looked after children, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, is the statutory responsibility of local authorities. The primary source of funding for local authority children's social care is through the Local Government Funding Settlement (and Devolved equivalents).
In addition to the funding for children's social care that local authorities receive through the Local Government Finance Settlement, and equivalent finance arrangements which apply to the Devolved Governments, the Home Office provides additional funding contributions to support local authorities in meeting the costs incurred looking after unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Asked by: Chris Coghlan (Liberal Democrat - Dorking and Horley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to close asylum hotels, particularly the Four Points Hotel in Horley.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government inherited a broken asylum system, with tens of thousands stuck in a backlog and claims not being processed, wasting millions in taxpayer money. We will empty asylum hotels as soon as possible, and by the end of this Parliament. That is a complex process that must be delivered through a controlled, managed and orderly plan of work.
For the safety, security, and wellbeing of those we accommodate, we do not publicly comment on individual hotels which may or may not be utilised by the Home Office, nor do we provide details of those we accommodate at any site.