Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how her Department monitors the impact of inflation on rural low-income families.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises that rising household costs, driven by elevated inflation, continue to place pressure on many families, including those in rural areas.
CPI inflation is measured by the Office for National Statistics. While it is not broken down by geographic region or by income level, the ONS does produce a wider range of measures that consider the cost pressures faced by different groups. This in part recognises that low-income households can be more exposed to price rises in essential goods and services, and may be disproportionately affected when these rise faster than average inflation.
Tackling the cost of living is a top priority for the Government. At the Budget, the Government also took action to bear down on prices and support households, including by reducing household energy bills from April 2026, expanding the Warm Home Discount, freezing regulated rail fares and NHS prescription fees, and extending the 5p fuel duty cut. Alongside this, the Government is going even further to support those who need it most by removing the two-child limit, increasing the national living wage, and committing to the pensions Triple Lock for the duration of this Parliament.
Since the beginning of the Iran conflict, the government has acted quickly to provide £53m in timely, targeted support to low-income households struggling with the rising price of heating oil and at risk of losing access to heating and hot water.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 2026–27 police funding settlement in enabling Northumbria Police to bring officer numbers remain back to pre-2010 levels; and how many police forces in England and Wales will have officer numbers above pre-2010 levels at the end of 2026-27.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s Safer Streets Mission sets a clear expectation for policing to deliver safer communities and improved public confidence. An effective, well-supported police service is central to achieving this. That is why forces should have the right resources to tackle crime and keep communities safe.
Through the police funding settlement, a total of £442.4 million will be available to Northumbria Police in 2026/27, an increase of £20.2 million compared to 2025/26. This represents a 4.8% cash increase.
We are focused on what police officers are doing, rather than achieving arbitrary officer headcount targets and are putting officers where people want to see them.
We have scrapped arbitrary officer headcounts, which has led to forces hiring officers and, in some cases, putting them in back-office roles. Some 12,000 warranted police officers are now working in support roles across England and Wales. We are instead focussed on putting 13,000 additional policing personnel in neighbourhood roles across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament. By February 2026, we had delivered more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles. (Growth under the Neighbourhood Policing Programme, as at 28 February 2026: management information - GOV.UK)
We are also expanding police use of AI and automation technologies. In the Police Reform White Paper we announced £115m over the next three years, led by the creation of “Police AI”, a new national centre for AI in policing focused on supporting police forces rapidly but responsibly use AI to improve their efficiency and effectiveness, resulting in better public safety outcomes for local communities. Taken together this investment package is expected to free up at least 3,000 FTE (or 6 million officer hours) a year by 2028/29.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in (a) shop theft, (b) mobile phone theft and (c) drug offences over the past 12 months.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes official statistics on the offences recorded by the police in England and Wales on a quarterly basis, including shop theft and drug offences. The most recent data available is for the year ending September 2025, which can be accessed here:
Theft offences recorded by the police where a mobile phone was stolen are not separately identifiable in the police recorded crime data published by the ONS.
The ONS does collect data on the number of people who have been victims of mobile phone theft, as part of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The most recent data available is for the year ending March 2025, which can be accessed here:
The Metropolitan Police publish the number of incidents of theft from the person and personal robbery which involved the theft if a mobile phone. This data is available on the Metropolitan Police’s Crime Dashboard, which can be accessed here:
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) transparency and (b) accountability in the administration of child maintenance services.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to ensuring transparency and accountability in the administration of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
The Child Maintenance Decision Makers’ Guide is published on GOV.UK and provides transparency around CMS policy and guidance for both caseworkers and customers. This guidance is used alongside the Child Support Act 1991 and associated regulations, ensuring that all decisions comply with DWP policy and statutory requirements.
In addition, CMS issues operational instructions that support caseworkers in their day-to-day decision-making and promote the consistent and uniform application of rules.
The Department also publishes quarterly CMS statistics, with the most recent release covering data up to December 2025. These are supported by detailed breakdowns on Stat‑Xplore and a suite of tables within the national statistics.
Accountability is strengthened through independent external audits through National Audit Office and Government Internal Audit Agency.
External Audit reports are prepared every year and are included in the annual accounts: CMS Client Funds Accounts, providing assurance over the management of funds and enabling parliamentary and public scrutiny. For the year 25/26, going forward, Client Funds Accounts will be removed, and reporting of CMS funds will be included in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what information his Department holds on trends in the number of jobs in the oil and gas sector since 2023.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government holds information on employment trends in the oil and gas sector from a range of sources, including industry data and independent research.
The Office for National Statistics estimates that direct employment in the sector was around 27,000 in 2023 and around 28,000 in 2024 on a provisional basis.
Analysis shows strong skills transferability from oil and gas to offshore clean energy roles.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the longest time was that it has taken for a paid for priority and super priority application to be turned around and decided since 2000.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Statistics on UK Visas and Immigration applications is published in table VSI_01a on GOV.UK in the ‘Visas, status and immigration data: October to December 2025’, as part of the 'Migration Transparency data'. The information displayed goes back to 2021. For migration transparency data before 2021 please see the ‘Migration Transparency Data – March 2014 to December 2024’ on National Archives website.
The VSI_01a data table provides data on the volume of overseas and in-country applications received and input for each route and performance against service standard for each route including for Priority and Super Priority Services.
UKVI’s communications to visa customers applying for Priority and Super Priority Services set out that it can take longer to get a decision beyond the advertised waiting times for these services. For example, if the Home Office needs to ask for more information or check details with other government departments. Where an individual who has applied for these services may experience a delay beyond advertised times for these services, customers are notified by relevant UKVI caseworking teams.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many deportation orders issued against foreign national offenders resulted in (a) enforced removals, (b) voluntary departures and (c) no removal in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Some of the information that you have requested regarding FNOs is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office does publish data on FNO returns in the quarterly Immigration System Statistics release which can be viewed at, Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK. This publication includes quarterly data on enforced, voluntary and port FNO returns (of which ‘deportations’ are a legal subset) and are published in table ‘Ret_D03’ of the returns detailed datasets accompanying the release. The Home Office also recently published figures on FNO returns (which include both enforced and voluntary returns) between 1 December 2022 and 31 January 2026, which can be found here: Returns from the UK between 1 December 2022 and 31 January 2026 - GOV.UK.
Over 8,700 foreign national offenders (FNOs) have been returned from the UK under this government, and we will continue to do everything we can to remove these vile criminals from our streets.
The Home Office provides the data on FNOs who are subject to deportation action, living in the community. These are published quarterly in the Immigration Enforcement Data, which is available at, Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.
Work is currently underway to publish more detailed information on FNOs subject to deportation. Further information on this work can be found at: Statistics on foreign national offenders and the immigration system - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time is between (a) the issuing of a deportation order and (b) the removal of the individual from the UK in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Some of the information that you have requested regarding FNOs is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office does publish data on FNO returns in the quarterly Immigration System Statistics release which can be viewed at, Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK. This publication includes quarterly data on enforced, voluntary and port FNO returns (of which ‘deportations’ are a legal subset) and are published in table ‘Ret_D03’ of the returns detailed datasets accompanying the release. The Home Office also recently published figures on FNO returns (which include both enforced and voluntary returns) between 1 December 2022 and 31 January 2026, which can be found here: Returns from the UK between 1 December 2022 and 31 January 2026 - GOV.UK.
Over 8,700 foreign national offenders (FNOs) have been returned from the UK under this government, and we will continue to do everything we can to remove these vile criminals from our streets.
The Home Office provides the data on FNOs who are subject to deportation action, living in the community. These are published quarterly in the Immigration Enforcement Data, which is available at, Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.
Work is currently underway to publish more detailed information on FNOs subject to deportation. Further information on this work can be found at: Statistics on foreign national offenders and the immigration system - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many deportation orders were issued against foreign national offenders in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Some of the information that you have requested regarding FNOs is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office does publish data on FNO returns in the quarterly Immigration System Statistics release which can be viewed at, Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK. This publication includes quarterly data on enforced, voluntary and port FNO returns (of which ‘deportations’ are a legal subset) and are published in table ‘Ret_D03’ of the returns detailed datasets accompanying the release. The Home Office also recently published figures on FNO returns (which include both enforced and voluntary returns) between 1 December 2022 and 31 January 2026, which can be found here: Returns from the UK between 1 December 2022 and 31 January 2026 - GOV.UK.
Over 8,700 foreign national offenders (FNOs) have been returned from the UK under this government, and we will continue to do everything we can to remove these vile criminals from our streets.
The Home Office provides the data on FNOs who are subject to deportation action, living in the community. These are published quarterly in the Immigration Enforcement Data, which is available at, Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.
Work is currently underway to publish more detailed information on FNOs subject to deportation. Further information on this work can be found at: Statistics on foreign national offenders and the immigration system - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders subject to a deportation order remain in the UK for which the latest data is available.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Some of the information that you have requested regarding FNOs is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office does publish data on FNO returns in the quarterly Immigration System Statistics release which can be viewed at, Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK. This publication includes quarterly data on enforced, voluntary and port FNO returns (of which ‘deportations’ are a legal subset) and are published in table ‘Ret_D03’ of the returns detailed datasets accompanying the release. The Home Office also recently published figures on FNO returns (which include both enforced and voluntary returns) between 1 December 2022 and 31 January 2026, which can be found here: Returns from the UK between 1 December 2022 and 31 January 2026 - GOV.UK.
Over 8,700 foreign national offenders (FNOs) have been returned from the UK under this government, and we will continue to do everything we can to remove these vile criminals from our streets.
The Home Office provides the data on FNOs who are subject to deportation action, living in the community. These are published quarterly in the Immigration Enforcement Data, which is available at, Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.
Work is currently underway to publish more detailed information on FNOs subject to deportation. Further information on this work can be found at: Statistics on foreign national offenders and the immigration system - GOV.UK.