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, what contingency plans are in place to help tackle surges in inspection demand at ports.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Border Force operates a risk‑based approach to container security, focusing resources on identifying and intervening against higher‑risk movements of goods rather than physically inspecting all shipping containers entering the UK.
The Home Office does not hold centrally aggregated or routinely collated data on:
It is therefore not possible to provide figures for the last three years on inspections, inspection times, staffing, or breach rates.
Border Force uses a range of risk‑based targeting systems to identify containers for intervention. The primary system for risking shipping containers is the Advanced Freight Targeting Capability – Shipping Containers (AFTC‑SC) platform. This capability is supported by intelligence and information from across government, including law‑enforcement partners, international partners, and other relevant government and commercial sources.
Container screening is supported by non‑intrusive inspection technology, including high‑energy X‑ray imaging. Where containers are selected for further examination, Border Force officers may also deploy specialist capabilities, including detector dogs and technical detection equipment.
Border Force works closely with port operators and partner agencies to ensure that security interventions are delivered effectively while minimising disruption to legitimate trade. The Department keeps its approach under regular review to ensure that it remains proportionate and effective. The effectiveness of this intelligence‑led approach is reflected in publicly reported Border Force enforcement outcomes.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 September 2025 to Question 71117 on Immigration: Syria, whether a delay of 30 months to ILR applications for a Syrian national is considered to be within the acceptable level of service for UKVI.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 11 December 2024, we paused all Syrian asylum interviews and decisions whilst we assessed the country situation. This pause extended to Settlement Protection applications from Syrian nationals
The pause was a necessary step while there was no stable, objective information available to make robust assessments of risk on return to Syria.
On 14 July 2025, we published updated country information which enabled decision making to resume. We are currently processing the large backlog of outstanding applications in line with published policy. For those that were granted refugee status having lodged an asylum claim in the UK, where the basis of the grant of status is affected by the change in circumstances, or where it is unclear, we are writing out to applicants where necessary to gather further evidence to assess these applications, and may interview applicants where necessary to determine if there is an ongoing need for protection.
Those who made an in-time application will continue to have their conditions maintained under Section 3C of the Immigration Rules.
Settlement is a privilege, not an automatic right, and provides permission to stay in the UK permanently and freedom from immigration control for those who still require protection. All settlement applications are carefully considered on their individual merits, and this includes assessing whether there have been significant changes in country conditions or personal circumstances, which means that an individual no longer needs our protection.
In line with our international obligations, we will not remove anyone to their own or any other country where they have a well-founded fear of persecution or are at risk of serious harm.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many naturalised British people are called for first-time adult passport interviews; and whether those interviews are chosen by risk-based selection.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Passport interviews are part of a range of checks to confirm the identity of a passport applicant. Where a customer applying for their first British passport has been naturalised within the last 12 months and UK Visa and Immigration records confirm the customer’s photograph, identity and personal details, they will not routinely be interviewed unless their application has increased complexity or other indicators of risk. His Majesty’s Passport Office reserves the right to interview any applicant where its checks to confirm the applicant’s identity have not been satisfactorily completed.
The number of naturalised British citizens who have been interviewed as part of the passport application process is not held in a reportable format, and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review current guidance and training to ensure that equality considerations do not inhibit proportionate and effective statutory action in safeguarding and youth justice contexts.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Where there are safeguarding concerns, or where youth justice services are involved with an individual, decisions on these cases must be based on the individual circumstances of the case alone. Protected characteristics, such as ethnicity, should not influence the judgement of risk relating to that individual, or the assessment of whether statutory provision should be made.
As the Home Secretary said in the House of Commons debate on the Southport Inquiry, the only factors that should be taken into account are the potential risks posed by an individual and how best to manage those risks.
The Department for Education is developing a set of practice standards and training for Lead Child Protection Practitioners (LCPPs). The standards will describe the knowledge and skills expected of LCPPs to work effectively in Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams, to take evidence-informed child protection decisions. The standards will reflect the importance of not letting social bias or professional anxiety influence actions or outcomes when working with children and adults from different cultural and racial backgrounds.
Youth justice services are supported to identify and assess safeguarding risk through case management guidance.
Asked by: Lord Anderson of Ipswich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what use, if any, they have made of the power in section 66 of the Immigration Act 2014 to deprive naturalised citizens of their British citizenship when the consequence is to render them stateless; and what assessment they have made of the utility of that power.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The power to deprive an individual of British citizenship under section 40(4A) of the British Nationality Act 1981 has not been used since its introduction in July 2014.
Following the first statutory review of the power, which was published in April 2016, a further review will be undertaken within 12 months of the power first being used.
Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 20 April (HL16210), when they intend to provide the promised update.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The noble lord will appreciate that this question relates to a live investigation, and I am unable to comment on any timelines relating to it.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to issue guidance to the public on the location of illegal migrants who have been moved out of hotel accommodation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
All asylum seekers residing in a closing hotel will be provided with alternative suitable accommodation. Moves are coordinated by Home Office accommodation providers, and options may include dispersed accommodation, alternative contingency sites, or larger accommodation sites. Individuals may be relocated anywhere within the wider contract region and not necessarily within the same local authority area.
For the safety, security and wellbeing of those being accommodated and staff, the Home Office does not disclose information about accommodation sites which may or may not be utilised to the general public.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 38 of the policy paper entitled Protecting What Matters, CP 1540, published on 9 March 2026, what mechanism will be used to connect local and national networks.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office Disruptions team, which horizon scans for extremist influence and events, will be expanded with additional resource to disrupt extremist networks at a national and local level. We will be refreshing our reporting mechanisms that will allow local partners to refer their concerns directly to us.
The Government’s focus is to use existing mechanisms to analyse, prevent and disrupt the spread of high-harm extremist ideologies that can lead to community division and to radicalisation into terrorism, particularly those that radicalise others but deliberately operate below CT thresholds.
There are a wide range of offences and powers that can be used to counter the threat from extremism and we are working to maximise their use. These include powers to regulate charities; broadcasting and education; immigration powers; and offences such as encouragement of terrorism and public order offences.
The Home Office works with a range of national and local partners to deliver this work, ensuring timely sharing of information so where there is evidence of purposeful actions that are potentially radicalising others into terrorism or violence, proportionate disruptive action can be considered.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Inter Mediate is on the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme register.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
It would not be appropriate to comment on whether specific entities have registered under the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.
Certain information registered under the scheme is published on the public Foreign Influence Registration Scheme register, where the registration relates to political influence activities and where no exception to publication applies. Registrations under the enhanced tier are not published unless they relate to political influence activities, and there are circumstances in which registration details will not be made public, for example where publication could create a risk to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom.
The Government does not intend to provide details of registrations beyond those that appear on the public register, as doing so could identify information not intended to be published and undermine the scheme’s objectives.
However, the Government will be publishing an annual report on the operation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, which will include, among other things, the number of registrations under both tiers, the number of information notices issued, and the number of persons charged with or convicted of offences under the scheme. The first report will be published as soon as practicable after 30 June 2026.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, a) how many asset recovery cases involving cooperation with the United Arab Emirates have resulted in funds being returned to UK victims since 2020; b) what metrics are used to measure the operational effectiveness of the UK–UAE illicit finance partnership; and c) whether that partnership is being applied to support recovery in cases including the High Court judgment in Njord Partners SMA-Seal LP & ors v Astir Maritime & ors [2024].
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK–UAE Partnership to Tackle Illicit Financial Flows is focused on strengthening how we work together on illicit finance, fraud and asset recovery, including the return of the proceeds of crime.
Since it was established in 2021, the UK and the UAE have worked closely to improve cooperation between our law enforcement agencies, to share information more effectively, and to put in place stronger arrangements to support joint operational work.
The effectiveness of the partnership and these objectives are kept under regular review through established operational and governance arrangements that support this cooperation.
Decisions on asset sharing are taken on a case‑by‑case basis. Asset sharing allows recovered funds to be shared with other jurisdictions where there has been joint effort to recover criminal proceeds, and helps to encourage continued international cooperation in this area.
The UK publishes annual statistics on domestic and international asset recovery through the Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin, which includes data on completed international asset sharing arrangements. The Home Office is not able to comment on, or make assessments in relation to, individual cases.