Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of implementing a total ban on the (1) import, and (2) domestic sale, of dangerous weapons, including zombie-style knives.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are 22 different weapons prohibited as offensive weapons, and they include items such as knuckledusters, curved swords and truncheons. This legislation is kept under constant review and on 24 September 2024 we added zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes to the list, and more recently, from 1 August 2025 we banned ninja swords. It is illegal to sell, manufacture, import or possess these weapons. It is currently possible to own specifically prohibited weapons if a legal defence applies, such as the weapon is owned for sporting purposes, is made by hand according to certain specifications, is of historical importance, or if it’s owned for the purpose of making it available to a museum.
On 16 December 2026 the Government launched a public consultation on plans to introduce a comprehensive licensing scheme for those who sell knives or other bladed articles, including importers, retailers and private sellers, making them subject to strict regulations and conditions. The consultation closes on 24 February and is available on GOV.UK: Licensing for knife sales - GOV.UK. This follows recommendations made in Commander Clayman’s Independent End-to-End Review of Online Knife Sales to introduce a registration scheme for knife sellers and an ‘import licensing scheme to prohibit unlicensed importation of knives and prohibited weapons’.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
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 reports that Russia is using Interpol systems to target political opponents abroad on UK national security.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government views any allegation of misuse of INTERPOL’s systems very seriously and works closely with INTERPOL to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system.
Any State that is found to be wilfully abusing and misusing the INTERPOL system should be held to account to the fullest extent. This is even more important for any states that are already under corrective measures.
The Home Office works with INTERPOL and the National Crime Agency (NCA), which acts as the UK’s National Central Bureau (NCB) for INTERPOL, to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards.
We encourage INTERPOL to uphold international human rights obligations and we won’t hesitate to recommend further reforms to INTERPOL as necessary.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that people based in the UK, including people granted asylum, are protected from politically-motivated red notices.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government views any allegation of misuse of INTERPOL’s systems very seriously and works closely with INTERPOL to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system.
Any State that is found to be wilfully abusing and misusing the INTERPOL system should be held to account to the fullest extent. This is even more important for any states that are already under corrective measures.
The Home Office works with INTERPOL and the National Crime Agency (NCA), which acts as the UK’s National Central Bureau (NCB) for INTERPOL, to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards.
We encourage INTERPOL to uphold international human rights obligations and we won’t hesitate to recommend further reforms to INTERPOL as necessary.
Asked by: Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the cross-departmental ministerial group will next meet to discuss the violence against women and girls strategy action plan; and how that group plans to report its work to Parliament.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Ministerial Board met on Tuesday 27th January and will continue to meet regularly.
Home Office Ministers look forward to engaging with Parliament on the working of the government in implementing our Strategy ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse’, our supporting Action Plan, and our ambition to halve VAWG within a decade. This will include annual progress reports which will be published.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of released Daesh members with British citizenship or residency returning to the UK.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is the long-standing policy of successive UK Governments not to comment either on individual cases or operational intelligence.We are monitoring the situation in North-East Syria closely and working with partners, including the Global Coalition against Daesh, to mitigate shared national security risks.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with local authorities on the provision of services to prevent knife crime among young people.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government have set an ambitious but essential target to halve knife crime over this decade and we are making progress: since the start of this Parliament, knife crime has fallen by 8% and knife homicides are down by 27%.
To achieve this ambition we are engaging with partners across the system both to address knife crime and address the root causes of knife crime. This includes local authorities who play a vital role.
This role is formalised within the Serious Violence Duty which places a statutory requirement on a range of public sector bodies, including local authorities, to work collaboratively, analyse the local problem, and put in place a strategy to prevent and reduce serious violence. Community Safety Partnerships, led by the local authority and whose partners match those subject to the Serious Violence Duty must also comply with these requirements.
The Home Office had discussions and worked with relevant local authorities to deliver the extended knife surrender arrangements which the Government ran in July 2025 and covered various locations in London, West Midlands and Greater Manchester. The extended surrender arrangements involved the use of a mobile surrender van and 37 bespoke weapons surrender bins and a total of a 3,570 knives and weapons were surrendered through these arrangements.
The Home Office maintain regular discussions with local authorities through Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) and Young Futures Panels partnership arrangements to support the effective delivery of services to prevent knife crime among young people.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of Operation Gull in Northern Ireland in the last 15 years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication. Information about the effectiveness of Operation Gull is not available in our published data
Our published national data on enforcement activity is available at the following link and includes data on detected irregular arrivals to the UK: Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2025 - GOV.UK
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, with reference to the Prime Minister’s press release entitled Prime Minister unlocks new opportunities for British businesses in China, published on 29 January 2026, how she plans to monitor and evaluate cooperation with China on transnational organised crime and illegal immigration.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office will monitor and evaluate the impact of any cooperation with China by assessing operational outcomes against the UK’s Transnational Crime and Illegal Migration threat picture, drawing on performance indicators and intelligence from UK operational partners to determine the reduction in associated harms.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on whether the Security Service was aware of (a) the illegal activities of Jeffrey Epstein, (b) his relationship with Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and (c) advice given by the Security Service to the Royal Household about these matters.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
It has been the long-standing policy of successive governments not to comment on intelligence matters.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish full details of their engagement with the Highland Council regarding the proposed use of Cameron Barracks as asylum accommodation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has engaged with Highland Council, as well as other local stakeholders including the Police, NHS, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service and others since plans were announced in October 2025.
The department will continue to engage regularly with all statutory partners as plans are progressed. Key information about the plans discussed with local partners can be found on the factsheet Cameron Barracks, Inverness: factsheet - GOV.UK, which will be updated as further information becomes available.