Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of immigration since July 2024 on social cohesion in the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office will increase existing English language requirements for economic migrants and introduce new English language requirements for dependants of those coming under economic routes.
These measures support the integration of those coming here to work here (and their families) into UK communities, as well; as ensuring that those coming to work here are less vulnerable to abuse and exploitation in the workplace.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the guidance entitled Applying to the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme, updated on 5 March 2026, when the additional 24‑month Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) extension will open for applications in practice; and whether the widened 90‑day application window will apply to both first and subsequent UPE applications.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government has extended the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) by a further 24 months to provide stability and security for those who still need sanctuary in the UK due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The additional 24‑month extension under the UPE scheme will open to applications from 8 April 2026, in line with the relevant changes to the Immigration Rules.
Eligible individuals whose current Ukraine scheme permission is due to expire will be able to apply to the UPE scheme up to 90 days before expiry. The widened 90‑day application window applies both to first‑time UPE applications and to subsequent applications for the additional 24‑month extension.
Applying at any point within this window will not reduce the total period of permission granted, and any remaining valid permission will be added to the new grant.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether companies on the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme register are required to publish an estimated value of their contract and work.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The FIRS public register ensures that, for the first time, we have transparency about foreign state-directed political influence activities. The aim of this register is to better inform the public as to the scale and extent of foreign influence in UK political affairs and our democratic processes.
There is full guidance online that sets out what needs to be registered, and what of the information provided at registration will be published on the register https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-influence-registration-scheme-registration-and-public-register
The value of the contract and/or work being undertaken will not appear on the public register. However, information that will be published includes the nature and form of the arrangement being registered, the name of the foreign power in the arrangement, a description of the types of activities to be carried out and the purpose and sought outcome of those activities.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the command paper, Protecting What Matters, CP 1540, 9 March 2026, page 38, if she will publish the organisations that the Government deems extremist and which are subject to a policy of non-engagement.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office does not comment on specific groups. As announced in the Protecting What Matters publication on the 9th March, we are currently updating and embedding the 2024 engagement principles which will assist public bodies to not confer legitimacy, funding or influence on extremist groups. Responsibility for decisions and due diligence around who departments engage with sits with those departments and the appropriate policy areas.
It is for individual government departments to decide to use these principles, or their own due diligence processes around engagement. If asked, we will advise and share information to help inform their decisions. We will also be producing an annual ‘State of Extremism’ report which will also support public sector staff to tackle extremism. The first iteration of this will be published by the end of 2026.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her timeline is for the implementation of regulations to apply forensic marking to new GPS units for use in agricultural and commercial settings.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Equipment theft, including the theft of GPS systems, can have devastating consequences for countryside communities and the agricultural sector.
That is why we are committed to the implementation of the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 and fully support its intentions to prevent the theft and re-sale of All-Terrain Vehicles, quad bikes and GPS systems.
The legislation will require new ATVs, quad bikes and GPS systems to be forensically marked and registered on an appropriate database. We will introduce the necessary secondary legislation when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to introduce regulations to apply forensic marking to new GPS units for use in agricultural and commercial settings.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Equipment theft, including the theft of GPS systems, can have devastating consequences for countryside communities and the agricultural sector.
That is why we are committed to the implementation of the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 and fully support its intentions to prevent the theft and re-sale of All-Terrain Vehicles, quad bikes and GPS systems.
The legislation will require new ATVs, quad bikes and GPS systems to be forensically marked and registered on an appropriate database. We will introduce the necessary secondary legislation when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Baroness Falkner of Margravine (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to update the annual data requirement to ensure that police forces record and submit data on the biological sex of suspects, victims and complainants; and if so, when this will take place.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is carefully considering the implications of the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex within the Equality Act in the context of what needs and is proportionate to record for a policing purpose and the Annual Data Requirement will be updated in due course.
Asked by: Lord Young of Acton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend for a finding of anti-Muslim hostility by the special representative on anti-Muslim hostility to be recorded by the police.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent of Government and it is for individual forces to determine what is recorded in a particular scenario, in line with the law and relevant operational guidance.
The College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council will shortly publish their review of non-crime hate incidents.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce legislation to ensure that mobile phones can be blocked or made unsaleable after being stolen.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Mobile phone theft blights communities, and we are determined to do more to tackle it.
Law enforcement partners are delivering robust action to drive down the numbers of these thefts. In London, mobile phone theft has fallen by 10,000 offences in the past year – a reduction of 12.3%.
We also want to see further action aimed at breaking the business model that drives phone theft, by reducing the value of a stolen device. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is continuing to work closely with these partners on technical solutions aimed at achieving this. The Home Office is supporting these efforts. At present, our preferred approach remains allowing time for this collaborative work to continue, so that potential solutions to be developed and tested appropriately.
At the recent International Mobile Phone Crime Conference, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police set a deadline of 1 June for industry to bring forward further concrete commitments. If meaningful progress cannot be made, the Home Office will look to consider any necessary action.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2026 to Question 116788, if she will make an assessment of the annual cost to police forces of (a) administering roadside drug-impairment tests and (b) drug-driving testing.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not made an assessment on the costs to police forces for administering roadside drug-impartment tests under section 4 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and drug driving testing under section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 1988.