Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding has been allocated to tackle Serious Organised Crime for police forces in (a) Lancashire, (b) Cumbria, and (c) Greater Manchester in (a) this financial year and (b) the 2026-27 financial year.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
In 2025-26, the Home Office are providing c.£1 billion to the National Crime Agency to tackle Serious and Organised Crime.
The Home Office does not allocate Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) specific funding to local police forces as setting annual budgets is the responsibility of chief constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many breathalyser tests were carried out across West Mercia in the last 12 months; how many tested positive; and how many resulted in a prosecution.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on roadside breath tests for alcohol as part of its annual ‘Police Powers and Procedures: Roads policing’ statistical release. The latest data is available here Police powers and procedures: Roads policing, to December 2023 - GOV.UK and covers the calendar year ending December 2023.
In 2023, West Mercia Police carried out 7,811 roadside breath tests for alcohol, of which 1,248 were positive or refused.
The Home Office does not hold information on how many of these resulted in a prosecution.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 the level of funding for the police over the period of the Spending Review 2025 on levels of (a) shoplifting, (b) phone theft and (c) violence against women.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to supporting the police to tackle crime. The Chancellor has announced a real terms increase in police spending power over the next three years.That included £200 million to kickstart recruitment of neighbourhood officers and PCSOs across the country. As is usual, more detail on force funding allocations for future years will be set out at the police settlement later.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to give (a) police and (b) councils powers to issue (i) nuisance begging directions, (ii) nuisance begging prevention notices, (iii) nuisance begging prevention orders, (iv) nuisance rough sleeping directions, (v) nuisance rough sleeping prevention notices and (vi) nuisance rough sleeping prevention orders.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 10th June, the Government announced its intention to repeal the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824. We have introduced targeted replacement measures in the Crime and Policing Bill to ensure police have the powers they need to keep communities safe, including a new criminal offence of facilitating begging for gain, and an offence of trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, both of which were previously provided for under the 1824 Act.
We know police forces make effective use of existing powers to tackle anti-social behaviour that occurs in this context, and we will update statutory guidance on the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to provide more certainty on how existing powers can be applied to anti-social behaviour where it occurs in these scenarios.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many enquiries have been submitted to her Department on non compliance with the Home Office Code of Practice for Sports Governing Bodies in the last six weeks; and to which sports governing bodies they referred.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Sports governing bodies approved by the Home Office are required to abide by the ‘Code of Practice for Sports Governing Bodies’ as part of their role under the International Sportsperson visa route.
The Home Office reserves the right to check the activities of an approved sports governing body’s role at any time, and issues regarding non-compliance will be addressed directly with the relevant body in the first instance. Where an approved body continues to fail to comply with its duties as set out in the ‘Code’, the Home Office will consider changing the approved governing body for that sport at its own discretion, in consultation with DCMS or the relevant home sports councils.
It would not be appropriate for the Home Office to comment upon specific reports submitted to the department regarding the role of sports governing bodies or provide any details of those reports.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure compliance with Home Office Code of Practice for Sports Governing Bodies.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Sports governing bodies approved by the Home Office are required to abide by the ‘Code of Practice for Sports Governing Bodies’ as part of their role under the International Sportsperson visa route.
The Home Office reserves the right to check the activities of an approved sports governing body’s role at any time, and issues regarding non-compliance will be addressed directly with the relevant body in the first instance. Where an approved body continues to fail to comply with its duties as set out in the ‘Code’, the Home Office will consider changing the approved governing body for that sport at its own discretion, in consultation with DCMS or the relevant home sports councils.
It would not be appropriate for the Home Office to comment upon specific reports submitted to the department regarding the role of sports governing bodies or provide any details of those reports.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made for the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 of the proportion of anti-social behaviour recorded by police which is (1) associated with racism, (2) associated with religious hatred, and (3) associated with religious hatred towards Muslims.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes information about the number of anti-social behaviour incidents recorded by the police in England and Wales on a quarterly basis. However, information about whether these incidents were associated with racism or religious hate is not separately identifiable.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to model the level of police officer (a) attrition and (b) recruitment required to (i) maintain and (ii) increase overall frontline police numbers in the next three years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on police officer attrition as part of the Police Workforce Statistics, England and Wales. Attrition varies by force and in the year ending March 2024, 9,080 FTE police officers left the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales (excluding transfers), a decrease of 112 (or 1.2%) on the previous year.
It is for Chief Constables and directly elected PCCs, and Mayors with PCC functions to put in place robust workforce plans to deliver sufficient recruitment to replace officers leaving the service to ensure officer numbers can be maintained. Through the Police Funding Settlement for 2025/26, a total of up to £376.8 million has been allocated to support the maintenance of police officer numbers in England and Wales in 2025-26. This is in addition to £200m which has been made available in 2025/26 to kick start the growth in neighbourhood policing personnel. By the end of this parliament there will be 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales, including up to 3000 additional neighbourhood officers by the end of March 2026.
Asked by: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with (a) police forces and (b) community groups on the potential impact of Respect Orders on community cohesion.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Respect Orders, which were introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill in February, will be behavioural court orders which focus on combatting anti-social behaviour. We have undertaken extensive consultation with policing partners, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), and other key stakeholders in the Anti-social Behaviour sector to ensure the Respect Order will be as effective as possible.
Respect Orders will enable courts to ban adult offenders from engaging in harmful anti-social behaviour. They can also compel adult perpetrators to take action to address the root cause of their behaviour.
Breach of the order will be a criminal offence, allowing the police to arrest anyone suspected of breach. Courts will have a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, imprisonment.
The Respect Order will be piloted prior to national rollout to ensure it is as effective as possible.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to create an offence of (a) engaging in nuisance begging, (b) arranging or facilitating begging for gain and (c) trespassing with intent to commit a criminal offence.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 10th June, the Government announced its intention to repeal the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824. We have introduced targeted replacement measures in the Crime and Policing Bill to ensure police have the powers they need to keep communities safe, including a new criminal offence of facilitating begging for gain, and an offence of trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, both of which were previously provided for under the 1824 Act.
We know police forces make effective use of existing powers to tackle anti-social behaviour that occurs in this context, and we will update statutory guidance on the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to provide more certainty on how existing powers can be applied to anti-social behaviour where it occurs in these scenarios.