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 steps her Department is taking to ensure that businesses operating in high‑risk sectors are aware of the foreign bribery indicators published by the Serious Fraud Office and Five Eyes partners.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The government takes foreign bribery risks seriously and is committed to helping businesses identify and prevent them. This is why in December 2025, this government published the new UK Anti-Corruption Strategy. The strategy seeks to bring more corrupt actors to justice, prevents them benefitting from their illicit wealth, tackles vulnerabilities to corruption at home and builds resilience overseas. It also commits to helping UK businesses to combat bribery through the Serious Fraud Office’s crime prevention capability and a new online anti bribery resource collection for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Serious Fraud Office, working with its Five Eyes partners, has published indicators to help businesses recognise potential bribery risks. These indicators are available on the Serious Fraud Office website.
The Department for Business and Trade supports this work by signposting guidance to high-risk sectors and encouraging businesses to embed these indicators into their compliance and due diligence processes.
The government will continue to work with enforcement agencies and international partners to raise awareness and strengthen the UK’s approach to preventing foreign bribery, in line with the OECD Working Group on Bribery recommendations.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who have crossed the English Channel in small boats have been linked to proscribed terrorist groups in each of the last three years.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The first priority of Government is protecting national security and the safety of UK citizens. All applications for UK immigration status, including for all those arriving through illegal migration routes, are subject to comprehensive checks.
It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on operational security matters or specific cases. However, where an individual is assessed as presenting a risk to our country, we take swift and robust action.
The Home Office uses various tools to detect and disrupt travel by criminals, by those posing a national security risk, and by individuals excluded from the UK or previously deported from the UK.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what background checks her Department conducts on migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office conducts mandatory identity and security checks on all small boat arrivals.
As part of this process, the Home Office collects biometric data—such as facial images and fingerprints—to establish identity. These biometrics are checked against Home Office systems and other law enforcement databases, including Interpol’s wanted list. This enables us to identify individuals, assess whether they pose a risk to public safety, and determine any breaches of immigration law. These checks are essential to maintaining a secure, fair, and effective immigration system.
In line with the Refugee Convention, refugee status will be denied to those who have committed serious crimes, pose a danger to the community, or present a threat to national security.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of information-sharing arrangements between the National Crime Agency, Action Fraud, the Police and relevant professional regulators; and what plans she has to improve interoperability and avoid administrative duplication.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government has recognised the challenges facing the Action Fraud service, and, working with City of London Police, are pleased that the new Report Fraud service launched on 4 December.
This new service replaces Action Fraud and includes the provision of improved reporting tools, victim services, and analysis and dissemination of viable investigative cases to police forces. Report Fraud’s new National Crime Analysis Service (N-CAS) will replace the backend system used previously by Action Fraud to analyse reports. This will significantly improve the speed and quality of information provided to law enforcement and other operational partners, boosting their chances of successful prosecution. It will also block and disrupt crime through providing real time information to those institutions and organisations who can deter and disrupt fraudulent websites, bank accounts, and other activities which are enabling criminality
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle (a) extremism and (b) radicalisation in the (i) South East and (ii) Surrey.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Prevent is a part of the UK’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy and intervenes early to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Home Office funds the highest threat areas to go above and beyond to ensure delivery of the Prevent Duty is targeted and effective, including 1 area in the South-East.
However, the threat and risk of radicalisation is no longer contained within administrative boundaries as we see increases in online radicalisation. In response, we have introduced funding for a regional delivery officer post to provide additional support in some areas across England. Surrey is an early adopter of that model, with an officer in place who covers both Surrey and Sussex. Regional delivery officers will deliver training and community engagement work as well as supporting in a crisis response situation.
In addition, Home Office provides expert support and advice to all local authorities through its regional Prevent Advisers and funding for Prevent projects in local communities that every Local Authority can access.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to provide security protections for faith communities in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This Government is committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion at their chosen place of worship, and to making our streets and communities safer. The Government and police work closely together to review threats and strengthen protections for communities against terrorism and hate crime.
Up to £70.9 million is available to protect faith communities in 2025/26. This includes £18 million through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, £29.4 million through the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme and for security at Muslim faith schools, and £3.5 million through the Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme for places of worship and associated faith community centres of all other faiths. In addition, up to £10 million of emergency funding has been made available for both Jewish and Muslim communities each to further strengthen security measures at their places of worship and other community sites.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, since the introduction of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, how many breaches have been detected.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We will not be providing a running commentary of breaches of FIRS identified or numbers of registrations received. This is because doing so runs contrary to our policy on publication of information, which centres around an annual report as the key mechanism for providing transparency on the running of the scheme.
The annual report will set out, among other things, the number of registrations, the number of information notices issued, the number of persons charged with an offence and the number of persons convicted of an offence. The first report will be published as soon as practicable after 30 June 2026.
Where evidence of a criminal offence has been committed, including failure to register with FIRS, the Government will refer the matter to the police.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle cyber crime in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Cyber crime causes huge damage to people and businesses across the UK and is a leading priority for the Government. The Home Office works with our partners across Government and law enforcement, including the National Crime Agency, National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Policing to tackle all cyber threat, including cyber crime.
The Home Office funds the Regional Cyber Crime Units (RCCUs) across England and Wales, tasked with investigating and pursuing serious cyber offenders conducting crime committed in, or against, the UK. This includes the South East Cyber Crime Unit in the South East Regional Crime Unit (SEROCU), which covers Surrey and Surrey Heath. Since 2017, in partnership with local Police and Crime Commissioners, the Home Office has directly funded a national network of specialist officers trained to investigate cyber crime and support local communities in efforts to prevent crimes that occur online.
The South East Cyber Crime Unit is the first in the UK to operate as a fully collaborated unit across the South East Region. It brings together experts from SEROCU, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, Thames Valley Police, Surrey Police, and Sussex Police into a single flexible capability. The unit follows the Serious and Organised Crime ‘4P’ model, including Pursue, Prevent, Protect and Prepare, with each force retaining a Pursue Team working collaboratively with regional resources.
Cyber crime is treated as Serious and Organised Crime within SEROCU’s control strategy. The aim is to identify, disrupt, and reduce the impact of cyber criminals as part of the National Cyber Network. SEROCU target offenders profiting from cyber tools or stolen data, carry out work to prevent cyber crime and pursue criminal justice outcomes as appropriate.
Through Protect and Prepare work, SEROCU engage businesses and communities via outreach, webinars, and partnerships to improve cyber security awareness and assist the public and organisations in recovery and resilience. This includes the Cyber Resilience Centre (CRC) for the South East, funded by the Home Office, which offers a package of measures to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), providing tailored advice and long-term support, aligned to National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) standards, helping these organisations take proactive steps towards improving their cyber security.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when was the last inspection of MBR Acres under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The last audit at MBR Acres occurred in November 2025.
The Animals in Science Regulation Unit conducts both announced and unannounced audits to assure establishments are compliant with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, the terms of their licences and the Code of Practice.
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 information her Department holds on the quantity of Venezuelan drug exports smuggled into the UK in each year since 2020.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Drug misuse can have a devastating impact on the safety, productivity, and health and wellbeing of our communities. Cocaine is smuggled into the UK via a number of different routes and methodologies, which frequently change in response to international law enforcement activity. The Home Office does not publish data by country of origin. Since the beginning of 2020, Border Force, across England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland have seized the following amounts of cocaine from overseas:
Year | Amount of cocaine seized (Kgs) |
2020 | 6,512 |
2021 | 16,044 |
2022 | 16,337.33 |
2023 | 18,038.14 |
2024 | 26,143.19 |
2025 (Q1 & Q2) | 15,268.37 |
The National Crime Agency’s National Strategic Assessment 2025 on Drugs provides further detail on cocaine flows and can be found here - NSA 2025 - Drugs - National Crime Agency.