Home Office

The Government did not fund and provide surrender bins prior to 2025, when the Government funded 37 surrender bins, with 33 bins located in London, 1 in Greater Manchester and 3 in the West Midlands to support the extended knife surrender scheme held in July last year.

A total of 2,787 knives and weapons were deposited in the surrender bins.

Since the installation, one bin in London has been vandalised by graffiti.

The maintenance costs in 2025/26 for the surrender bins is £32,500 which includes the collection and disposal of surrendered weapons.

In relation to the impact of the surrender bins, the data the Government published demonstrates that they are being well used. The Government promoted the use of the surrender bins during the extended surrender arrangements and is continuing to encourage their use through engagement with the relevant local authorities and community safety leads.

The Government did not fund and provide surrender bins prior to 2025, when the Government funded 37 surrender bins, with 33 bins located in London, 1 in Greater Manchester and 3 in the West Midlands to support the extended knife surrender scheme held in July last year.

A total of 2,787 knives and weapons were deposited in the surrender bins.

Since the installation, one bin in London has been vandalised by graffiti.

The maintenance costs in 2025/26 for the surrender bins is £32,500 which includes the collection and disposal of surrendered weapons.

In relation to the impact of the surrender bins, the data the Government published demonstrates that they are being well used. The Government promoted the use of the surrender bins during the extended surrender arrangements and is continuing to encourage their use through engagement with the relevant local authorities and community safety leads.

Under the UK-France Agreement on the Prevention of Dangerous Journeys, eligible individuals seeking to come to the UK must provide their biometrics at the visa application centre in Paris, France, in order to proceed.

The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February 2025, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. The Government response set out the reasons why the Government considers this consultation to be important, and we intend to publish this shortly.

We will carefully consider all of the views put forward in response to the consultation once it is published, before taking any decisions on whether and what changes may be necessary in the interests of public safety. The Government will also provide an assessment of the impact of any changes that we intend to bring forward, including to policing and to the business community in rural areas, at the relevant time.

The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February 2025, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. The Government response set out the reasons why the Government considers this consultation to be important, and we intend to publish this shortly.

We will carefully consider all of the views put forward in response to the consultation once it is published, before taking any decisions on whether and what changes may be necessary in the interests of public safety. The Government will also provide an assessment of the impact of any changes that we intend to bring forward, including to policing and to the business community in rural areas, at the relevant time.

The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February 2025, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. The Government response set out the reasons why the Government considers this consultation to be important, and we intend to publish this shortly.

We will carefully consider all of the views put forward in response to the consultation once it is published, before taking any decisions on whether and what changes may be necessary in the interests of public safety. The Government will also provide an assessment of the impact of any changes that we intend to bring forward, including to policing and to the business community in rural areas, at the relevant time.

The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February 2025, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. The Government response set out the reasons why the Government considers this consultation to be important, and we intend to publish this shortly.

We will carefully consider all of the views put forward in response to the consultation once it is published, before taking any decisions on whether and what changes may be necessary in the interests of public safety. The Government will also provide an assessment of the impact of any changes that we intend to bring forward, including to policing and to the business community in rural areas, at the relevant time.

Following the appalling attack on a synagogue in Manchester on 2 October 2025, the Home Secretary announced an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October. The Review is being led by Lord Ken Macdonald of River Glaven KC, supported by former Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill KPM.

The Review is due to submit its report to the Home Secretary in Spring 2026.

Following the appalling attack on a synagogue in Manchester on 2 October 2025, the Home Secretary announced an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October. The Review is being led by Lord Ken Macdonald of River Glaven KC, supported by former Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill KPM.

The Review is due to submit its report to the Home Secretary in Spring 2026.

The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February 2025, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. The Government response set out the reasons why the Government considers this consultation to be important, and we intend to publish this shortly.

We will carefully consider all of the views put forward in response to the consultation once it is published, before taking any decisions on whether and what changes may be necessary in the interests of public safety. The Government will also provide an assessment of the impact of any changes that we intend to bring forward, including to policing and to the business community in rural areas, at the relevant time.

The Public Order Act 2023 includes stop and search powers for police to search for and seize articles related to protest-related offences.

The Home Office publishes statistics on use of stop and search powers, the latest are at: Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UK

While overall numbers are small, the figures show that protest related searches are more concentrated in the Metropolitan Police Service, Surrey and Sussex.

The management of protests is an operational matter for the police. It is for chief constables and their officers to make decisions about the use of stop and search powers in response to local needs.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales, on a bi-annual basis, as at 31 March and 30 September each year in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.

Data for this release are collected at Police Force Area (PFA) level as a snapshot at 31 March and 30 September only. As such, data for Essex Police as at 1 July 2024 is not available.

The latest information covers the situation as at 31 March 2025. Information on the number of police officers (on both a full-time equivalent and headcount basis), broken down by PFA, at the end of each financial year (31 March) from 2007 to 2025 can be found in the ‘Police Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687f314d8adf4250705c96fa/open-data-table-police-workforce-230725.ods.

Data on the police workforce as at 30 September 2025 is due to be published on 28 January 2026.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales, on a bi-annual basis, as at 31 March and 30 September each year in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.

Data for this release are collected at Police Force Area (PFA) level as a snapshot at 31 March and 30 September only. As such, data for Essex Police as at 1 July 2024 is not available.

The latest information covers the situation as at 31 March 2025. Information on the number of police officers (on both a full-time equivalent and headcount basis), broken down by PFA, at the end of each financial year (31 March) from 2007 to 2025 can be found in the ‘Police Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687f314d8adf4250705c96fa/open-data-table-police-workforce-230725.ods.

Data on the police workforce as at 30 September 2025 is due to be published on 28 January 2026.

Report Fraud replaced Action Fraud in December 2025. The new service provides improved reporting tools, enhanced victim support, and stronger analytical capability, helping to deliver a more coordinated and effective police response to fraud.

As part of this transition, significant improvements are being made to performance oversight. Better management information will be available to track and monitor service performance, including the handling of cases raised by hon. Members. A new performance dashboard will support both the City of London Police and the Home Office in monitoring outcomes and identifying emerging fraud threats through reporting data.

The Home Office regularly reviews the performance of Report Fraud with the City of London Police and will continue to engage with them to ensure the service is delivering improved outcomes for victims and strengthening the national response to fraud.

The Animals in Science Regulation Unit Annual Report is the regulator’s public account of its work overseeing the use of animals in science under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. It includes information on licensing, compliance activity and enforcement outcomes to provide transparency and assurance about the operation of the regulatory framework.

The three establishment licences reported as revoked in 2024 were withdrawn because the establishments had stopped conducting regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. In such cases, licence revocation is an administrative step, confirming that an establishment is no longer required to maintain a licence.

All licensed establishments must uphold the standards for animal welfare set out in ASPA and in the Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Bred, Supplied or Used for Scientific Purposes. The Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU) takes instances of potential non-compliance very seriously and thoroughly investigates all non-compliance concerns.

ASRU publishes an annual report that sets out all confirmed non‑compliance cases along with any enforcement actions taken (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animals-in-science-regulation-unit#annual-reports).

With reference to page 37 of the ASRU Annual Report 2024, the item “significant issues of concern regarding farm and large animal facilities” refers specifically to a breach of Establishment Licence Standard Condition 4.7. This condition requires licence holders to maintain standards of care and accommodation set out in the Code of Practice available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-housing-and-care-of-animals-bred-supplied-or-used-for-scientific-purposes.

ASRU’s published Compliance Policy (www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-testing-and-research-compliance-with-aspa) provides information on how the regulator identifies, investigates and responds to potential incidents of non‑compliance, and how proportionate measures and sanctions are applied where breaches are found which seek to prevent future recurrence.

Further detail will be set out in due course, including the eligibility criteria and regulation of adjudicators.

Further detail will be set out in due course, including the eligibility criteria and regulation of adjudicators.

The UK has a proud history of providing protection and we continue to welcome refugees and people in need through our safe and legal routes.

As announced in Restoring Order and Control, we are developing new capped sponsored refugee pathways. These will include education, labour and community routes. This transformative change to safe and legal routes will revolutionise the way in which we offer opportunities to refugees. The Home Office is working with partners, including local authorities, to design and operationalise these routes.

As part of the fundamental change to the UK’s protection offer, the annual cap will be set in consultation with local authorities, partners, and community sponsors. The approach will reflect community capacity to welcome and support refugees.

The number of refugees resettled through the UKRS in any given year will depend on a range of factors, including the capacity of local authorities to welcome, accommodate and integrate refugees.

The UK has a proud history of providing protection and we continue to welcome refugees and people in need through our safe and legal routes.

As announced in Restoring Order and Control, we are developing new capped sponsored refugee pathways. These will include education, labour and community routes. This transformative change to safe and legal routes will revolutionise the way in which we offer opportunities to refugees. The Home Office is working with partners, including local authorities, to design and operationalise these routes.

As part of the fundamental change to the UK’s protection offer, the annual cap will be set in consultation with local authorities, partners, and community sponsors. The approach will reflect community capacity to welcome and support refugees.

The number of refugees resettled through the UKRS in any given year will depend on a range of factors, including the capacity of local authorities to welcome, accommodate and integrate refugees.

The Government remains fully committed to continuous improvement in the regulation of the use of animals in science, and to strengthening the UK’s position as a global leader in science and innovation. As part of this, the Home Office is in the final stages of delivering a comprehensive programme of regulatory reform to further strengthen the Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU), ensuring confidence in the regulatory system and maintaining robust compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA).

As part of the reform programme, the number of inspectors will increase from 14.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions at the end of 2017 to 22 FTE positions by March 2026.

All licensed establishments must fully uphold the standards for animal welfare set out in ASPA and in the Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Bred, Supplied or Used for Scientific Purposes. ASRU conducts regular audits to assure compliance and takes any instance of non-compliance extremely seriously.

ASRU’s published Compliance Policy (www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-testing-and-research-compliance-with-aspa) sets out how the regulator identifies, investigates and responds to potential incidents of non‑compliance, and how it applies appropriate and proportionate measures and sanctions where breaches are found. Through the delivery of this policy, the regulator aims to minimise the risk of future non‑compliance.

The Government’s strategy Replacing Animals in Science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods sets out a long-term vision to accelerate the development and use of nonanimal approaches. The Home Office will continue to apply ASPA’s rigorous licensing framework, ensuring that animals are only used where no validated non-animal alternative exists.

All licenced establishments must meet the minimum required standards for care and accommodation, as set out in the Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Bred, Supplied or Used for Scientific Purposes (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-housing-and-care-of-animals-bred-supplied-or-used-for-scientific-purposes).

The Home Office Regulator conducts both announced and unannounced audits to assure establishments’ compliance with the required standards in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, the Code of Practice and their individual licence conditions.

In confirmed cases of non-compliance, the Regulator applies remedies aimed at minimising the risk of future recurrence, in line with its compliance policy (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-testing-and-research-compliance-with-aspa). The Regulator will continue to publish all cases of non-compliance in its Annual Reports, where it considers root causes of and key learnings from non-compliance and makes recommendations to reduce future risk. (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animals-in-science-regulation-unit-annual-reports).

The Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) ‘National Learning Recommendations re: Exposure of Intimate Parts Searches of Children’ report made ten recommendations. Seven recommendations have been fully implemented, and work is ongoing for the other three. Progress on these is set out below:

• Recommendation 1, Updating Authorised Professional Practice Guidance: The College of Policing has reviewed and is in the process of updating the Authorised Professional Practice guidance, which will embed trauma-informed and child-centred principles.

• Recommendation 2, Provision of Appropriate Adults: The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has worked closely with forces to ensure that officers understand the legislative requirements for providing Appropriate Adults during searches of children. They have also engaged with stakeholders to develop and disseminate clear information to help children in custody understand how Appropriate Adults can and should support them.

• Recommendation 3, Child First Approach: The College of Policing is reviewing and updating guidance and training materials to reinforce a child-centred, trauma-informed, approach to searches of children.

• Recommendation 4, Coordination of National Policing Response: The Home Office has fostered greater collaboration across policing partners by convening regular engagement with the NPCC, College of Policing, and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, to ensure that the response to the IOPC’s recommendations is coordinated, evidence-based and embedded in frontline practice.

• Recommendation 5, Annual Data Requirements (ADR): The ADR has been significantly expanded to create a more comprehensive and robust dataset, enabling clearer monitoring of police practice and better-informed safeguarding assessments. Forces are now required to provide detailed and consistent information on searches that expose intimate parts, both in custody and under stop and search powers. This includes the geographic location of the search, whether a supervisor was consulted, and whether an Appropriate Adult was present. The latest stop and search data, published on GOV.UK recently (Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UK), includes additional details on strip searches. Data on searches in custody is due to be published in March 2026.

• Recommendation 6, Data Collection and Monitoring: The NPCC has implemented regular data monitoring procedures, so that the circumstances and rationale for child strip searches are consistently reviewed. Any issues or learning identified through these reviews are addressed by the Custody Leadership Team within each force, helping drive improvements in practice.

• Recommendation 7, Authorisation Guidance: The NPCC has reviewed and strengthened authorisation processes for exposure of intimate parts searches. It has also recommended that a senior officer must authorise the strip search of a child, ensuring decisions are made with the necessary accountability, justification, necessity and proportionality.

• Recommendation 8, Research Around Trauma: The College of Policing has enhanced its evidence base and incorporated key findings related to the trauma experienced by children during strip searches into their products.

• Recommendation 9, Voice of the Child: Relevant guidance and training products are being reviewed and updated by the College of Policing, to ensure the ‘Voice of the Child’ is more consistently reflected.

Recommendation 10, Mandatory Safeguarding Referral following exposure of intimate parts searches: The Home Office has led system-wide consultations to consider amendments to Code A and C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984), including mandating a safeguarding referral for any child who is subject to an exposure of intimate parts search. The Government is committed to introducing new legal safeguards around the strip search of children as soon as possible.

The provisional police funding settlement (18 December) published that total funding to Territorial Police Forces will be up to £18.3 billion, an increase of up to £746 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.2% cash increase and a 2.0% real terms increase for the policing system. Total grant funding to Police and Crime Commissioners will increase by up to £382 million next year, a 3.3% cash increase.

Council tax levels are a local decision, and elected Police and Crime Commissioners will rightly want to consider the balance between increasing resources for policing local communities and the overall council tax burden.

Police funding is agreed on an annual basis and allocations beyond 2026–27 will be determined as part of future police funding settlements.

This Government takes extremism seriously. We are committed to ensuring we have the required tools and powers to counter the activities of extremists. This includes challenging extremist narratives by taking a more muscular approach to identifying and watchlisting extremists, and ensuring dangerous overseas hate preachers and extremists are unable to enter the UK to spread their divisive rhetoric.

Islamist extremism continues to be one of the biggest threats we face and is at the heart of our approach to countering extremism and terrorism. We focus on the individuals, groups and environments, online and offline, which foster and enable hatred, and those who reject the fundamental values of our society and whose purpose is to divide and to terrify communities. These extremists must be challenged, and where their activities fall foul of our laws on hate speech, on public order, or on terrorism they will rightly be investigated and prosecuted.

The UK has one of the most robust counter-terrorism frameworks in the world which is deliberately widely drawn to capture the ever-diversifying nature of the terrorist threat that we face. This includes a wide range of terrorist offences and specialised powers for the police and Security Service to investigate and disrupt terrorist activity, support prosecution, and manage terrorist offenders, where activity meets appropriate thresholds. It is a matter for the operationally independent Police, Crown Prosecution Service and courts to decide if a crime has been committed.

On 9 December 2025, the Home Secretary published the draft Terms of Reference for the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs and asked the Chair to consult on them.

Following the consultation, the Chair will make recommendations to the Home Secretary. Final Terms of Reference will be agreed and published by 31 March 2026. The Home Secretary has been clear (in her Oral Statement of 9 December) that the inquiry will consider, explicitly, the background of offenders – including their ethnicity, religion and culture – and whether the authorities failed to properly investigate what happened out of a misplaced desire to protect community cohesion. The inquiry will act without fear or favour, identifying individual, institutional and systemic failure, inadequate organisational responses, and failures of leadership.

The Home Secretary has also commissioned new research from UK Research and Innovation to address longstanding gaps in our understanding of perpetrators’ backgrounds and motivations, including factors such as ethnicity and religion.

The Crime and Policing Bill includes a provision for statutory guidance to be issued to relevant law enforcement officers about their role in preventing, detecting and investigating the new child criminal exploitation (CCE) offence and about their functions relating to the new CCE prevention orders being introduced in the Bill.

We also intend to issue non-statutory guidance for other frontline practitioners to support them to understand the new CCE offence and orders. We will work with stakeholders and other relevant Government departments to develop the guidance to ensure that it provides clear and effective information on disrupting the criminal exploitation of children and supporting victims. The new guidance will supplement existing statutory guidance and will be published in due course.

We have adopted a plan to improve the quality of asylum casework, this includes improved training for decision makers and feedback loops to ensure we are learning from appeals to get decisions right first time.

Asylum decisions are subject to stringent quality checks to ensure that claims are properly considered, decisions are sound, and protection is granted to those who genuinely need it.

Each quality assessment will rate the impact of any casework or process errors against the agreed marking standards. Asylum decision quality data is published in the ADQ_01A table found in Migration transparency data - GOV.UK of the Immigration and Protection data.

Quality assessments must adhere to Home Office interview and decision standards. These standards are shared with Decision Makers to improve understanding of quality scores when receiving feedback.

The Home Office is investing in innovative techniques, including AI, to explore how we can improve productivity, speed up the processing of asylum cases awaiting an initial decision, and restore order in the asylum system.

The proportion of asylum claims receiving an initial decision within six months is at the highest level since Q3 2017 (60.6%).

Asylum decisions are subject to stringent quality checks to ensure that claims are properly considered, decisions are sound, and protection is granted to those who genuinely need it.

We are working to improve the speed of decisions and reduce the number of outstanding claims; but there will always be complex cases, and it is right we take time to work through them carefully.

The Government is committed to ensuring there is strong and consistent leadership across policing and a pipeline of diverse and talented candidates for chief officer appointments. The College of Policing’s Executive Leaders Programme aims to open up access to a wide pool of officers, who have the skills, experience and potential to become chief officers, ready for substantive appointment to a chief officer role.

Neither the Home Office nor the College of Policing issues guidance to police forces on the specific number of candidates they should recommend to the Executive Leaders Programme. Recruitment is managed locally by individual police forces, following national guidelines and the application, assessment, and selection framework set by the College of Policing.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of candidates attending and completing the Executive Leaders Programme.

The College of Policing has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the Executive Leaders Programme, which was carried out in 2023-2024 on the first two cohorts. Based on the recommendations of the review, further improvements were communicated to forces and implemented in subsequent cohorts of the programme by the College of Policing.

The Government is committed to ensuring there is strong and consistent leadership across policing and a pipeline of diverse and talented candidates for chief officer appointments. The College of Policing’s Executive Leaders Programme aims to open up access to a wide pool of officers, who have the skills, experience and potential to become chief officers, ready for substantive appointment to a chief officer role.

Neither the Home Office nor the College of Policing issues guidance to police forces on the specific number of candidates they should recommend to the Executive Leaders Programme. Recruitment is managed locally by individual police forces, following national guidelines and the application, assessment, and selection framework set by the College of Policing.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of candidates attending and completing the Executive Leaders Programme.

The College of Policing has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the Executive Leaders Programme, which was carried out in 2023-2024 on the first two cohorts. Based on the recommendations of the review, further improvements were communicated to forces and implemented in subsequent cohorts of the programme by the College of Policing.

The Government is committed to ensuring there is strong and consistent leadership across policing and a pipeline of diverse and talented candidates for chief officer appointments. The College of Policing’s Executive Leaders Programme aims to open up access to a wide pool of officers, who have the skills, experience and potential to become chief officers, ready for substantive appointment to a chief officer role.

Neither the Home Office nor the College of Policing issues guidance to police forces on the specific number of candidates they should recommend to the Executive Leaders Programme. Recruitment is managed locally by individual police forces, following national guidelines and the application, assessment, and selection framework set by the College of Policing.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of candidates attending and completing the Executive Leaders Programme.

The College of Policing has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the Executive Leaders Programme, which was carried out in 2023-2024 on the first two cohorts. Based on the recommendations of the review, further improvements were communicated to forces and implemented in subsequent cohorts of the programme by the College of Policing.

The Government is committed to ensuring there is strong and consistent leadership across policing and a pipeline of diverse and talented candidates for chief officer appointments. The College of Policing’s Executive Leaders Programme aims to open up access to a wide pool of officers, who have the skills, experience and potential to become chief officers, ready for substantive appointment to a chief officer role.

Neither the Home Office nor the College of Policing issues guidance to police forces on the specific number of candidates they should recommend to the Executive Leaders Programme. Recruitment is managed locally by individual police forces, following national guidelines and the application, assessment, and selection framework set by the College of Policing.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of candidates attending and completing the Executive Leaders Programme.

The College of Policing has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the Executive Leaders Programme, which was carried out in 2023-2024 on the first two cohorts. Based on the recommendations of the review, further improvements were communicated to forces and implemented in subsequent cohorts of the programme by the College of Policing.

The Government is committed to ensuring there is strong and consistent leadership across policing and a pipeline of diverse and talented candidates for chief officer appointments. The College of Policing’s Executive Leaders Programme aims to open up access to a wide pool of officers, who have the skills, experience and potential to become chief officers, ready for substantive appointment to a chief officer role.

Neither the Home Office nor the College of Policing issues guidance to police forces on the specific number of candidates they should recommend to the Executive Leaders Programme. Recruitment is managed locally by individual police forces, following national guidelines and the application, assessment, and selection framework set by the College of Policing.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of candidates attending and completing the Executive Leaders Programme.

The College of Policing has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the Executive Leaders Programme, which was carried out in 2023-2024 on the first two cohorts. Based on the recommendations of the review, further improvements were communicated to forces and implemented in subsequent cohorts of the programme by the College of Policing.

The closure power, under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, enables police or local councils to quickly close premises which are causing or likely to cause nuisance or disorder.

County councils may issue a closure notice and apply directly for closure orders in England and Wales providing that there is no district council in the area.

The closure power, along with all the powers in the 2014 Act, is deliberately local in nature, and it is for the relevant local agencies to determine whether its use is appropriate in the specific circumstances.

The Government will be publishing the public consultation paper on strengthening the controls on shotguns shortly.

The Government will provide the necessary impact assessments in due course, depending on whether we decide to make any changes following the consultation.

Drugs have a devastating impact on the health of individuals and communities.

The Home Office and UK Law Enforcement, particularly Border Force and the National Crime Agency, delivers a significant amount of operational activity to detect and seize illicit drugs being trafficked to the UK and to secure our border. Our strategy focuses on working closely with law enforcement partners upstream to stop drug trafficking at source and across the supply chain, targeting the gangs responsible, and bringing them to justice.

In the year ending March 2025, Border Force seized over 150 tonnes of illegal drugs from overseas; the highest amount on record and a 40% increase on the amount seized in the year ending March 2024.

Serious criminals are constantly developing their approaches to traffic drugs into the UK in response to our efforts at the border and we recognise that we must continue to adapt our approach.

We recognise the negative impact theft has on victims who rely on the tools of their trade to earn a living.

We are partnering with tradespeople’s representatives, policing and other partners, including retailers and manufacturers, to co-design actions Government and industry can take to encourage the prevention of tool theft.

We are also providing £2m funding for the National Business Crime Centre over the next three financial years to help tackle the crimes most affecting businesses today.

Chagossians have a specific path to British citizenship through the British Indian Ocean Territory route.

There were 271 grants of citizenship via this route for applications made from the UK in 2025. Data for when the individuals who were subject to these grants arrived in the UK is not held in a reportable format.

There may be additional people of Chagossian descent who have acquired citizenship outside of this route.

In the Immigration White Paper, the Government set out our ambition to use new technologies to increase the use of automation at the UK border, including at Paris Gare du Nord, and deliver visible changes to security, passenger flow and the customer experience.

We intend to set out further details on contactless travel and our plans to transform the UK border later this year.

In the Immigration White Paper, the Government set out our ambition to use new technologies to increase the use of automation at the UK border, including at Paris Gare du Nord, and deliver visible changes to security, passenger flow and the customer experience.

We intend to set out further details on contactless travel and our plans to transform the UK border later this year.

The Government’s top priority remains the safety and security of the United Kingdom and its citizens. The Government does not comment on individual cases or on operational activity.

Part Suitability of the Immigration Rules sets out the grounds on which the Home Office may refuse or cancel entry clearance, permission to enter, or permission to stay. These provisions allow action to be taken where a person’s presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good because of their conduct, character, associations or other reasons.

The Home Secretary has the power to deprive an individual of British citizenship where it was obtained by fraud, or where deprivation is conducive to the public good. Deprivation on conducive grounds is used only for individuals who pose a threat to the UK or whose conduct is considered to involve very high harm, for example activities relating to national security (including terrorism and espionage), war crimes, serious and organised crime, or extremism and the glorification of terrorism. Decisions on deprivation are taken on a case-by-case basis.

The Home Office keeps fees for immigration and nationality applications under regular review. Fees are set in accordance with the powers in Section 68 of the Immigration Act 2014, which allow the Department to take account of a range of factors, including the cost of processing applications, the benefits and entitlements associated with a successful application, and the wider costs of operating the migration and borders system.

The Home Office does not make a profit from these fees; income generated above the estimated unit cost contributes to the operation of the migration and borders system, helping to reduce the burden on UK taxpayers.

The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, is currently subject to public consultation, running until 12 February 2026. The consultation seeks views on the impact proposed changes might have on different groups. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following that consultation.

The final model will also be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.

The information you have requested is published in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK. Data on the Afghan Response Route (ARR) are published in table Res_01 of the Safe and legal (humanitarian) routes to the UK summary tables, which provides a specific breakdown of ARR arrivals. The latest data is available up to the end of September 2025. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.