Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 reviewing the definition of coercive and controlling behaviour within the Serious Crime Act 2015 to include extremist groups, cults and gangs.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Controlling or coercive behaviour (CCB) is an insidious form of domestic abuse. The CCB legislative framework was introduced in 2015 and was explicitly designed to address patterns of behaviour within relationships where the perpetrator and victim are “personally connected”, as outlined in Section 2 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. Expanding CCB beyond this context would risk undermining that clarity, creating uncertainty for police to identify, investigate and prosecute this offence.
We do not intend to expand the CCB offence beyond its current scope at this time.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 existing penalties on preventing cruelty against wildlife.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are currently no plans to make wildlife crimes notifiable (which would result in them being included in the national crime statistics).
Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to the police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will provide a guarantee that any changes to settlement rules will not have an adverse impact on families that are on the five-year pathway to remain.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026.
The consultation seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement.
We will continue to offer a shorter pathway to settlement for non-UK dependants of British citizens, on the family route, to five years, provided they have remained compliant with their requirements, and we will retain existing safeguards to protect the vulnerable, including settlement rights for victims of domestic violence and abuse.
I do not want to prejudge the outcome of the consultation, so there is no further detail I can give at this time.
The government’s response to the consultation will be subject to an economic and equality impact assessment, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the mean, medium and mode waiting times are for processing Homes for Ukraine visas; and how many of those visas take more than three weeks to issue.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
UKVI are currently assessing Homes for Ukraine visas within the published processing times. Information on visa processing times can be found at Visa processing times - GOV.UK
Average processing times do not form part of any current transparency data for Home for Ukraine applications and are not published.
A range of processing data including case outcomes on Ukraine visa applications, can be found at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK and Migration transparency data - GOV.UK
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what number of people have been arrested as a result of mistaken identity due to Live Facial Recognition in the last year.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is not aware of anyone being arrested as a result of mistaken identity, due to live facial recognition in the last year. Forces also publish information about their deployments on their website. More details on LFR deployments can be found in the Met Police Force report Live Facial Recognition Annual Report September 2025.
Police use of live facial recognition is subject to safeguards that are designed to minimise the risk of misidentifications. These are set out in the Authorised Professional Practice guidance by the College of Policing found here: Live facial recognition | College of Policing]. They must also comply with data protection, equality, and human rights laws and are subject to the Information Commissioner’s and Equality and Human Rights Commission’s oversight.
Following a possible live facial recognition alert, it is always a police officer on the ground who will decide what action, if any, to take. Facial recognition technology is not automated decision making – police officers and trained operators will always make the decisions about whether and how to use any suggested matches. This means that the technology is not the deciding factor on any arrest.
In November we launched a 10 public consultation, ending on 12 February to help shape a new framework on biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the potential cost to the Metropolitan Police of the proposals set out in her Department's policy paper entitled From local to national: a new model for policing published on 27 January 2026.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The reforms set out in the White Paper are fully funded to the end of the Parliament with nearly half a billion pounds invested. These reforms will make policing both more effective and more efficient with savings made through removal of duplication across the policing system. These savings will be reinvested into neighbourhood policing, including in London.
In addition, this Government has already announced record funding for policing of £18.4 billion next year to tackle crime and improve community safety. The Metropolitan Police will benefit from increased funding of up to £4.0bn next year, a 4.7% cash increase.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, is he will publish the list of companies who have had (a) their license to sponsor skilled and temporary workers revoked and b) their license since reinstated in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The register of licensed sponsors can be found on the Home Office website at: Register of licensed sponsors: workers - GOV.UK
This is a live document that shows which sponsors are currently fully active and the absence of a sponsor from the list signals that they are either suspended or revoked.
There are currently no plans to publish named lists of revoked or reinstated sponsors, although we do publish data on action taken against sponsors which can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK
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 consider i) increasing the number of wildlife crimes which are notifiable and ii) improving the consistency of the recording of wildlife crime by police forces.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are currently no plans to make wildlife crimes notifiable (which would result in them being included in the national crime statistics).
Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to the police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the effectiveness of enforcement of wildlife crimes as part of plans to a) review and b) strengthen penalties for cruelty against wildlife.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are currently no plans to make wildlife crimes notifiable (which would result in them being included in the national crime statistics).
Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to the police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the funding settlement for Essex Police.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2026–27 final police funding settlement provides up to £21.0 billion for the policing system in England and Wales.
Total funding to police forces will be up to £18.4 billion, an increase of up to £796 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.5% cash increase and a 2.3% real terms increase in funding.
Essex Police will receive up to £455.2 million in 2026-27. This is an increase of up to £21.1 million, equating to a 4.9% cash increase.