Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to help reduce instances of matricide.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG) is intolerable, and this Government has set out a mission to halve these crimes over the next decade.The Home Office is working to develop the evidence base on domestic abuse related deaths by funding the Domestic Homicide Project, which captures information all domestic abuse related deaths, including matricides, from all 43 police forces in England and Wales. The objective of this project is to improve our understanding of these cases and identify how the response to them can be improved. Further information about this research can be found at the following link: https://www.vkpp.org.uk/vkpp-work/domestic-homicide-project/. In addition, Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) offer a vital opportunity fornational and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths, including cases of matricide. We are currently reforming the DHR process to ensure learning is effectively identified and implemented to improve systems and ultimately, prevent future deaths.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 financial capacity of regional organised crime units to investigate modern slavery.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that law enforcement has there sources it needs to tackle crime effectively. Regional Organised Crime Units(ROCUs) are collaborations between three or more police forces and help support forces and partners to tackle serious and organised crime (SOC),including modern slavery.The Home Office provides c.30% of funding to supports the ROCUs intackling SOC, with the remaining c.70% coming from Police and Crime Commissioners in 2025-26. To improve the response to modern slavery, the Home Office also provides funding through the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit, for regional coordinators, based in theROCUs that act as a bridge between the ROCU and forces to provide specialist advice and support on investigations. In addition to this, the Home Office-funded Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) Programme is anintelligence capability that is increasing law enforcements capability to respond to organised exploitation, including modern slavery. As the spending review and subsequent allocations process is ongoing, funding for future years cannot be confirmed at this time.
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, if her will can provide (a) an update on the progress of the grooming gangs inquiry and (b) a timeline for the commencement of the different stages of the inquiry.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We are working urgently to establish the inquiry and Baroness Casey of Blackstock is supporting this process.Our immediate priority is appointing a Chair with the credibility and experience to lead the inquiry, ensuring a trauma-informed approach to engaging victims and survivors throughout - from its design to reporting. We aim to announce a Chair as soon as possible.Once a Chair is appointed, in line with the requirements of the Inquiries Act 2005, the Chair will play a central role in shaping the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference and will consult on a draft of these before they are finalised. It is the Terms of Reference that will determine the scope of the inquiry. Once inpost the Chair will set out an inquiry timeline based on the requirements of the Terms of Reference.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2025 to Question 90289 on Offences against Children: Wales, if she will publish the correspondence with the First Minister of Wales.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As noted in PQ 90290, the National Inquiry into Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse will cover England and Wales. The Home Secretary has written to the First Minister to confirm this. As the Hon Member will appreciate correspondence between the Home Secretary and the First Minister of Wales is confidential and I will not be publishing the letter.
Asked by: Lord Murray of Blidworth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings the departmental board of the Home Office has had since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 24/25 includes information on how many times the Departmental Board met during that financial year. Information on the number of meetings held in the 25/26 financial year will be published in next year’s Annual Report and Accounts. Home Office Board met twice in the time mentioned.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions took place between (a) ministers and (b) officials in her Department and (i) West Midlands Police and (ii) Birmingham City Council regarding (A) intelligence information received from Dutch authorities and (B) risk assessments presented to the Safety Advisory Group.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent of Government. Officials routinely engage with operational partners to support public safety and effective policing.
The Home Office does not publish operational intelligence or risk assessments produced by police forces or overseas law enforcement agencies. Doing so could compromise public safety, ongoing investigations, and relationships with international partners.
I am aware that the Honourable Member has, since tabling these questions, placed in the public domain reports by the West Midlands Police inputting into the local Safety Advisory Group, and the Netherlands Inspectorate of Justice and Security.
I also gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 1 December on this issue which is available at: 1 December 2025 - Football Policing - Oral evidence - Committees - UK Parliament
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish risk assessments presented by West Midlands Police to the Safety Advisory Group on the fixture at Villa Park on 6 November 2025.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent of Government. Officials routinely engage with operational partners to support public safety and effective policing.
The Home Office does not publish operational intelligence or risk assessments produced by police forces or overseas law enforcement agencies. Doing so could compromise public safety, ongoing investigations, and relationships with international partners.
I am aware that the Honourable Member has, since tabling these questions, placed in the public domain reports by the West Midlands Police inputting into the local Safety Advisory Group, and the Netherlands Inspectorate of Justice and Security.
I also gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 1 December on this issue which is available at: 1 December 2025 - Football Policing - Oral evidence - Committees - UK Parliament
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will publish all intelligence information received by West Midlands Police from the Dutch authorities regarding the Amsterdam riots in November 2024.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent of Government. Officials routinely engage with operational partners to support public safety and effective policing.
The Home Office does not publish operational intelligence or risk assessments produced by police forces or overseas law enforcement agencies. Doing so could compromise public safety, ongoing investigations, and relationships with international partners.
I am aware that the Honourable Member has, since tabling these questions, placed in the public domain reports by the West Midlands Police inputting into the local Safety Advisory Group, and the Netherlands Inspectorate of Justice and Security.
I also gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 1 December on this issue which is available at: 1 December 2025 - Football Policing - Oral evidence - Committees - UK Parliament
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs review of cannabis-based products for medicinal use is expected to be completed and published.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Cannabis-based products for medicinal use (‘CBPMs’) were placed in Schedule 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 in 2018, making them available for prescribing.
The Government has commissioned the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (‘ACMD’) to review the evidence on CBPMs and assess whether the legislative change in 2018 has had the desired effect and whether there have been any unintended consequences.
The ACMD is an independent scientific advisory body and determines its own procedures. However, the three-year Ministerial commission for 2025 – 2028 flagged the CBPM commission as a priority.
The Government will consider the advice carefully before deciding what action to take. The response will be published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring police forces to record thefts (a) from and (b) of light commercial vehicles as distinct crime categories to enable accurate national monitoring of van-related offending.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has access to a monthly extract of data from the Police National Computer (PNC) which provides additional intelligence information on the type of vehicles stolen in England and Wales. Such data already enables the monitoring of offences involving the theft of light commercial vehicles and so no additional crime code is needed to identify such thefts.
When collecting data for national monitoring purposes there is always a tension between seeking to capture more detail to identify emerging threats, which are hidden within existing broad offence groupings, and adding to recording complexity and burden on the police.
The Theft Act covers a wide range of criminality, and the Home Office currently require the police to record such offences under some fairly broad groups such as Theft from a motor vehicle, aggravated vehicle taking, and Theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle.