Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made for the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 of the proportion of anti-social behaviour recorded by police which is (1) associated with racism, (2) associated with religious hatred, and (3) associated with religious hatred towards Muslims.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes information about the number of anti-social behaviour incidents recorded by the police in England and Wales on a quarterly basis. However, information about whether these incidents were associated with racism or religious hate is not separately identifiable.
Asked by: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with (a) police forces and (b) community groups on the potential impact of Respect Orders on community cohesion.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Respect Orders, which were introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill in February, will be behavioural court orders which focus on combatting anti-social behaviour. We have undertaken extensive consultation with policing partners, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), and other key stakeholders in the Anti-social Behaviour sector to ensure the Respect Order will be as effective as possible.
Respect Orders will enable courts to ban adult offenders from engaging in harmful anti-social behaviour. They 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 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.
The Respect Order will be piloted prior to national rollout to ensure it is as effective as possible.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the level of funding for the police over the period of the Spending Review 2025 on levels of (a) shoplifting, (b) phone theft and (c) violence against women.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to supporting the police to tackle crime. The Chancellor has announced a real terms increase in police spending power over the next three years.That included £200 million to kickstart recruitment of neighbourhood officers and PCSOs across the country. As is usual, more detail on force funding allocations for future years will be set out at the police settlement later.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner on how funding will be allocated throughout the West Midlands over the period of the Spending Review 2025.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Force funding allocations will be set out at the police settlement later this year.
It is up to Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners to make decisions on local resourcing. They are best placed to make these decisions based on their local knowledge and experience.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of preventing scrap metal yards using prepaid credit cards to pay scrap metal dealers.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises that metal theft can cause significant distress and disruption, not only in terms of financial loss to businesses but also to people’s sense of safety and security in their local communities. Police recorded metal theft offences have been falling since the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. This legislation was introduced to reverse what was then a rising trend by strengthening regulation of the metal recycling sector and making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal.
Whilst these reductions are welcome, the Government is determined to go further. We are driving work with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which brings together industry representatives, policing and law enforcement agencies to tackle metal theft. The NICRP promotes intelligence sharing, targeted enforcement, and the implementation of crime prevention strategies across forces. To date, the Partnership has delivered training to 2,000 police officers and facilitates the sharing of data and intelligence among partners to support efforts to identify and disrupt offenders.
There is close cooperation between police, Environment Agency and other enforcement bodies in dealing with facilities such as scrap yards, as there are significant overlaps between environmental, acquisitive, and other types of crime. The Environment Agency is increasingly looking at the financial aspects of offending.
The Government is also prioritising reducing the profitability of acquisitive crime. We will continue to work with the police to better understand the disposal routes used to sell stolen goods and the Home Office will continue to work with other Government departments and online sites such as eBay, Gumtree and Meta (Facebook) to inform what more can be done to tackle the stolen goods market.
Whilst Immigration Enforcement does not have any primary responsibility in the licencing of scrap metal dealing, or in tackling unlicenced scrap metal dealing, it discharges its duties in line with the law.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what action she is taking to stop unlicensed scrap metal dealing.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises that metal theft can cause significant distress and disruption, not only in terms of financial loss to businesses but also to people’s sense of safety and security in their local communities. Police recorded metal theft offences have been falling since the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. This legislation was introduced to reverse what was then a rising trend by strengthening regulation of the metal recycling sector and making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal.
Whilst these reductions are welcome, the Government is determined to go further. We are driving work with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which brings together industry representatives, policing and law enforcement agencies to tackle metal theft. The NICRP promotes intelligence sharing, targeted enforcement, and the implementation of crime prevention strategies across forces. To date, the Partnership has delivered training to 2,000 police officers and facilitates the sharing of data and intelligence among partners to support efforts to identify and disrupt offenders.
There is close cooperation between police, Environment Agency and other enforcement bodies in dealing with facilities such as scrap yards, as there are significant overlaps between environmental, acquisitive, and other types of crime. The Environment Agency is increasingly looking at the financial aspects of offending.
The Government is also prioritising reducing the profitability of acquisitive crime. We will continue to work with the police to better understand the disposal routes used to sell stolen goods and the Home Office will continue to work with other Government departments and online sites such as eBay, Gumtree and Meta (Facebook) to inform what more can be done to tackle the stolen goods market.
Whilst Immigration Enforcement does not have any primary responsibility in the licencing of scrap metal dealing, or in tackling unlicenced scrap metal dealing, it discharges its duties in line with the law.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Written Statement of 23 June 2025 on Security, HCWS729, how many people have been (a) arrested, (b) charged, (c) convicted, (d) held on remand and (e) are serving a prison sentence for the activity listed in the Written Statement.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data provided by police shows that, between 30 July 2020 and 27 June 2025, there have been over 400 “direct actions” claimed by or identified with Palestine Action. Police have made 750 arrests during this period, with 555 separate individuals arrested. Offences have included criminal damage, aggravated burglary, violent disorder, assault on emergency workers, actual bodily harm and gross bodily harm. For many relevant cases, police investigations and court proceedings are ongoing.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report by the Migration Advisory Committee entitled Family visa financial requirements review, published on 10 June 2025, if she will expedite her response to the recommendations relating to children; and what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on those recommendations.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The report of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is now under review and the Home Office will respond to the review in due course.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Palestine Action members have been (a) arrested (b) charged, (c) convicted, (d) held on remand and (e) imprisoned for activities relating to protests against arms sales to Israel.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data provided by police shows that, between 30 July 2020 and 27 June 2025, there have been over 400 “direct actions” claimed by or identified with Palestine Action. Police have made 750 arrests during this period, with 555 separate individuals arrested. Offences have included criminal damage, aggravated burglary, violent disorder, assault on emergency workers, actual bodily harm and gross bodily harm. For many relevant cases, police investigations and court proceedings are ongoing.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2024 to Question 19789, how many of these were (a) charged, (b) convicted, (c) held on remand and (e) imprisoned.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data provided by police shows that, between 30 July 2020 and 27 June 2025, there have been over 400 “direct actions” claimed by or identified with Palestine Action. Police have made 750 arrests during this period, with 555 separate individuals arrested. Offences have included criminal damage, aggravated burglary, violent disorder, assault on emergency workers, actual bodily harm and gross bodily harm. For many relevant cases, police investigations and court proceedings are ongoing.