Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many and what proportion of civil servants in her Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the quarterly Public Sector Employment statistics. Information can be accessed for September 2025 at the following web address:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/september2025.
Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Annual Report and Accounts. The latest report for Financial Year 2024/25 can be found at the following web address:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of civil servants in his Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the quarterly Public Sector Employment statistics. Information can be accessed for September 2025 at the following web address:
Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Annual Report and Accounts. The latest report for FY 2024/25 can be found at the following web address:
DWP annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK
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 steps her Department is taking to ensure that hate crime data reported by police forces is accurate and comparable across categories of characteristic.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.
The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.
Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK
The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.
The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.
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 assessment she has made of the adequacy of levels of consistency of police hate crime recording practices across regional police forces.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.
The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.
Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK
The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.
The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.
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 discussions she or officials in her Department have had with the College of Policing on updating hate crime recording protocols.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.
The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.
Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK
The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.
The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.
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 consideration the Home Office has given to mandating annual publication of police force level data on hate crime recording compliance.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.
The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.
Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK
The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.
The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.
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 progress her Department has made on implementing the Law Commission’s recommendations on hate crime recording.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.
The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.
Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK
The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.
The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the scale of people-smuggling facilitation activity with operational links to Northern Ireland since July 2024; and how many disruptions and arrests have been made.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Through the Border Security Command, we continue to work with all key partners, both across the UK and internationally to disrupt and deter people-smuggling facilitation. Our collective law enforcement powers, sharing intelligence, data, and expertise, and conducting joined-up operational activity support our aim of putting people-smuggling gangs out of business.
The National Crime Agency's National Strategic Assessment assesses that the Common Travel Area (CTA), and particularly the routes between Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain, continue to be exploited by criminals for the purposes of immigration crime.
Tackling the threat from organised immigration crime, including illegal entry to the UK via the Common Travel Area (CTA), is complex and requires the coordination of approach and resource across the Home Office and with Policing Partners. Within Immigration Enforcement, our Officers work closely with law enforcement partners both in Northern Ireland, Great Britain, and the Republic of Ireland to maximise the use of resources and ensure the upstream disruption of out-of-country organised crime groups who seek to facilitate immigration crime through the CTA.
Our published national data on enforcement activity is available at the following link and includes data on detected irregular arrivals to the UK: Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many and what proportion of civil servants in her Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the quarterly Public Sector Employment statistics. Information can be accessed for September 2025 at the following web address:
Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Annual Report and Accounts. The latest report for FY 2024/25 can be found at the following web address:
DSIT annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK
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 assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of training provided to police officers on identifying and recording incidents involving gender identity and sex characteristics.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.
The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.
Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK
The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.
The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.