Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of the governance arrangements applying to the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS), including its industry funding model.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We fully recognise the serious and growing threat that freight crime poses to businesses, drivers, and the wider economy.
The Government does not fund NaVCIS. Instead NaVCIS is funded by the industry, including finance and leasing companies, insurers and hauliers.
NaVCIS is a national policing unit that provides dedicated specialist intelligence, and it engages with a range of partners to tackle organised vehicle crime.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Ministers have received information regarding funding arrangements for both fixed contributions and payments calculated by reference to the value of vehicles recovered.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Vehicle recovery Statutory fees are prescribed in secondary legislation under road traffic vehicle recovery powers.
The statutory framework provides for both fixed charges and variable payments that reflect the size, condition and recovery requirements of the vehicles involved.
The Home Office does not collect data on the fees collected by forces.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will have discussions with UK industrial hemp producers regarding removing current restrictions on its production and use in UK constructions.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Cannabis is a Class B controlled drug and can only be cultivated under Home Office licence. The Home Office operates two licensing regimes in respect of cannabis cultivation. The standard cannabis cultivation regime permits the use of the controlled parts of the plant (e.g., leaves and flowers) and the cultivation of high-THC varieties indoors. There must be a lawful purpose, such as pharmaceutical production. The industrial hemp regime permits the cultivation of low-THC varieties to use the non-controlled parts of the plant (mature stalk and seeds), but not the controlled parts of the plant (e.g. flowers and leaves). The Government has introduced two reforms to make it easier for farmers to cultivate industrial hemp. In January 2025, the rules on site sensitively were removed. The duration of licences granted from January 2026 has been extended from three years to six years, with no additional fees, to help businesses plan. The Home Office works closely with DEFRA to ensure a balance between proportionate regulation of cannabis cultivation and provision of opportunity for UK businesses around the use of hemp. As part of this work, officials from both departments have met with UK hemp producers.
Asked by: Jonathan Hinder (Labour - Pendle and Clitheroe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of police funding was derived from the police precept in (a) 1996 and (b) 2006.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Due to significant changes in the structure of police funding and policing in England and Wales in the financial year ending March 2016, it is difficult to make a direct comparison of the proportion of total police funding that was derived from police precept over the requested period of time.
However, the overall level of police precept in 1996-97 was £832.8 million and in 2006-07 was £2,639.5 million.
Further historical information regarding police funding for England and Wales is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/central-government-police-funding
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their announcement on 14 January that they will introduce legislation to give the Home Secretary powers to force the retirement, resignation, or suspension of chief constables on performance grounds, whether any chief constable removed using such powers would still be entitled to a settlement agreement.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
As the Home Secretary said to the House on 14 January and published in the white paper “From Local to National: A New Model for Policing” published on 26 January, when a Chief Constable is responsible for a damaging failure of leadership, the public rightly expect the Home Secretary to act. This Government intends to restore their ability to do so and will soon reintroduce the Home Secretary’s power to dismiss Chief Constables.
There is no statutory entitlement to any settlement beyond the normal pay and pension entitlement that an individual has accrued. Any further settlement would be a matter for the Local Policing Body to determine.
The detail of the measures to give effect to the White paper commitments will be contained in legislation which we intend to bring forward when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the required alignment of surnames on EU and UK official documents on women from European countries who retain their birth name on official documents from their home country.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office holds a one name for all official purposes policy, to protect the integrity and security of the British passport, helping His Majesty’s Passport Office confirm the identity of anyone applying for a British passport.
The aim of the policy is to deter and disrupt those who wish to change their name to commit crime or evade detection, and by the fact it is applied equally to all customers.
Exceptions can be supported where it would be unreasonable to ask a customer to change their name.
In such cases, HM Passport Office can apply an administrative fairness test and may issue a passport in the name the customer has applied in, even though it is different to the name on their foreign passport. This includes where a married woman cannot assume her spouse’s surname.
We continue to monitor the effectiveness and impacts of this policy.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to sheet Asy_01e of the data release entitled Asylum summary tables, year ending December 2025, updated on 26 February 2026, how many people claiming asylum after entering the UK with a visa or other leave in 2025 were nationals of (a) Myanmar, (b) Sudan, (c) Cameroon and (d) Afghanistan by latest leave held prior to claim.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes breakdowns of the number of people claiming asylum after entering the UK with a visa or other leave, by nationality and latest leave held prior to claim, for the top five nationalities in Asy_01e. This table does not currently include a full nationality breakdown. The total number of people claiming asylum after entering the UK on a visa or other leave is published in Asy_01d for Afghanistan and Sudan.
The Home Office does publish a full nationality breakdown of data on asylum claims and initial decisions, in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. The latest data relates to the year ending December 2025.
A full Impact Assessment has been published for the Visa Brake policy; see Table 1 for historic volumes of asylum claims linked to visa for the relevant nationalities and routes in scope of the Brake.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to sheet Asy_01e of the data release entitled Asylum summary tables, year ending December 2025, updated on 26 February 2026, whether she will publish a further breakdown of the nationalities currently grouped under "Other” for people claiming asylum after entering the UK with a visa or other leave in 2025, by latest leave held prior to claim.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes breakdowns of the number of people claiming asylum after entering the UK with a visa or other leave, by nationality and latest leave held prior to claim, for the top five nationalities in Asy_01e. This table does not currently include a full nationality breakdown. The total number of people claiming asylum after entering the UK on a visa or other leave is published in Asy_01d for Afghanistan and Sudan.
The Home Office does publish a full nationality breakdown of data on asylum claims and initial decisions, in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. The latest data relates to the year ending December 2025.
A full Impact Assessment has been published for the Visa Brake policy; see Table 1 for historic volumes of asylum claims linked to visa for the relevant nationalities and routes in scope of the Brake.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve family visa waiting times.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, including service standards for processing visa applications, where applicable. The department is also in the process of implementing technology changes to improve efficiency and support faster processing of family visa applications.
Processing times for family visa applications are published on GOV.UK for both applications made inside the UK and applications made outside the UK
Applicants on certain family routes may choose to use optional priority or super priority services, where available, for an additional fee to receive a faster decision on their application.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with his Haitian counterpart on maritime border issues between that country and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Immigration and border issues are the responsibility of the Turks and Caicos Islands Government. UK Government officials continue to support our Overseas Territories with their border security, including through funding, training and technical expertise.