Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 26 February (HL14639), how many fixed penalty notices have been issued to cyclists and scooter riders for (1) jumping red lights, and (2) riding on pavements, in England in the past 12 months; and whether they have plans to introduce legislation to reduce those practices.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect or hold specific data on the number of fixed penalty notices issued to cyclists or scooter riders.
The Home Office’s annual publication Police Powers and Procedures: Roads Policing - the most recent edition of which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-roads-policing-to-december-2023 - provides statistics on fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences, all of which apply exclusively to motor-vehicle drivers. Cyclists are therefore excluded from the scope of the published figures.
It is an offence for a cyclist to jump a red light and to cycle on a pavement, and the Government is determined to go further to make our streets safer for pedestrians by introducing new cycling offences through the Crime and Policing Bill, which will tackle instances where victims have been killed or seriously injured by irresponsible cyclists, ensuring parity of enforcement powers against dangerous behaviour on our roads, for all road users.
The Crime and Policing Bill will also give police greater powers to clamp down on anti-social behaviour involving e-scooters, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizure. This will allow police to put an immediate stop to offending.
Asked by: Baroness Falkner of Margravine (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Home Office has declined to lay before Parliament a draft statutory code submitted by an arm's-length body between January 2015 and December 2025, where that code has not been subject to litigation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
For all Home Office administratively classified arm’s length bodies, with the exception of National Crime Agency and Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the Home Office has not declined to lay before Parliament any draft statutory codes submitted in the time frame given, where that code has not been subject to litigation.
For National Crime Agency and Investigatory Powers Tribunal a reasonable search has failed to locate the requested information in the time available.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 82334 on Home Office: Facilities Agreements, whether there has been a change to facility time arrangements in her Department since July 2024; and if she will make an assessment of the reasons for the change in the (a) cost and (b) number of facility time staff.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
There have not been any changes to facility time arrangements in the Home Office since July 2024.
There will always be fluctuations from one year to another in terms of the number of employees elected as trade union reps and the amount of facility time they use to undertake their duties.
These fluctuations will be driven by a range of factors, such as vacancies on trade union committees being filled, the number of consultation exercises the employer needs to engage the unions on and the level of personal casework (e.g. grievances and disciplinaries) where trade union representatives may be supporting individual employees.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds data on the number of children that go missing by region every year.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold this data centrally.
Information about current missing persons incidents is held by individual police forces.
The National Crime Agency’s UK Missing Persons Unit holds the national database for all missing incidents that are unresolved after 72hours, allowing the police to have access to missing persons information across force boundaries. In addition, annual missing persons statistics, broken down to police force level, are published by the National Crime Agency’s Missing Person’s Unit in its annual data report which can be found here: Downloads - National Crime Agency
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 8 September 2025, to Question 71459, on Counter-terrorism: Finance, if she will list the individual quantitative and qualitative elements and metrics used by the Homeland Security Analysis and Insight team to determine the funding to individual councils.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Each year the Home Office conducts an annual prioritisation exercise to understand which Local Authorities (LAs) are facing the highest threat from radicalisation to terrorism. The process incorporates both quantitative and qualitative elements.
The quantitative element of the model draws on counter-terrorism investigations data and arrests data for terrorism and terrorism-related offences; the number of cases that have been discussed at a Channel multi-agency panel or are being managed separately under the police-led process; community tension reports; hate crime data; Indices of Multiple Deprivation; and annual employment statistics. It is regularly reviewed and adapted to ensure that it provides a sound basis to make effective evidence-based decisions.
As part of the qualitative element, we hold a series of regional roundtables with key Prevent delivery partners, which allows us to sense check the preliminary rankings and make adjustments by drawing on the knowledge and experience of front-line Prevent practitioners from across a range of sectors, including CT Policing; Department for Education; Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government; Health; and HM Prisons and Probation.
Funding for posts and dedicated projects is allocated as part of an annual bidding process, with funding allocations informed by factors including the amount of funding available, the level of threat, the level of funding provided for Prevent posts in the previous financial year, and inflation-related increases.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce age restrictions of 18 plus for the purchasing of catapults and slingshots.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government shares concerns over the misuse of catapults, whether against people, property or wildlife.
There is existing legislation relating to the carrying and use of offensive weapons, Anti-Social Behaviour and wildlife crime; however, the Government is aware of continuing concerns about the problems caused by catapults.
We have noted the proposals for new restrictions, including age restrictions, and we are actively considering all proposals as part of wider considerations of what more might be done around enforcement.
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: 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 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.