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: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a fee for project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 based on the estimated number of procedures and using the funds generated to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government has recently announced £75 million of further investment in accelerating the development, validation and uptake of non-animal alternative methods.
As set out in the Replacing Animals in Science strategy, published in November 2025, the Government will create a preclinical translational models hub and a UK Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (UKCVAM).
This is in addition to the current funding of the NC3Rs.
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, 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: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many licences were rejected for procedures using the rabbit pyrogen test since the publication of the Replacing Animals in Science strategy.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Since the publication of the Animals in Science Strategy on 11 November the Home Office has not received any applications for licences that seek authorisation for procedures using the rabbit pyrogen test.
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, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of foreign passports no longer being held by the Passport Office for the duration of the family visa application process.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
With the introduction of the eVisa digital permission, eligible customers can now complete their biometric appointment at the Visa Application Centre (VAC) and retain their passport. Customers applying under family routes have retained their passports whilst their visa application is being processed since October 2025. This allows them to apply for visas for other countries, travel overseas and use their passport to confirm their identity for other purposes or demonstrate their status if living in a third country during this period.
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 Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of animal testing on animal welfare.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government takes the welfare of animals used in science extremely seriously. The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) is the UK’s framework governing the use of animals in research. ASPA enables the limited use of animals in science for societal, environmental or animal benefit. It provides a strict system of controls, rigorously and robustly enforced by the GB Regulator, to ensure animals are only used where necessary and where the expected benefits justify the harms.
ASPA requires application of the principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (the 3Rs) and mandates licensing for establishments, individuals and research projects. A project can only be authorised following a harm-benefit analysis, and all applications undergo ethical and scientific review, including by local Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Bodies, before submission to the Regulator.
Longer term, the Government is fully committed to reducing the use of animals in science. In November 2025, the Government published, Replacing animals in science which sets a programme to accelerate the development, validation, and uptake of alternative methods while maintaining high standards of scientific rigour and public safety.
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: 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, what measures they will implement to prevent the abuse of such powers.
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.