Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure consistent police response standards in cases of child-on-child sexual abuse that arise within school settings; and if she will issue updated guidance on liaison between police forces, Designated Safeguarding Leads and Local Authority Designated Officers.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government remains firmly committed to tackling all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse in all settings across the country. This includes ensuring that statutory safeguarding partners, including the police, have the right resources, tools and training to identify and respond effectively to child sexual abuse. Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance sets out the roles and responsibilities of each safeguarding partner, including how to work together to safeguard children from this horrific crime. We are also working to establish the new National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection which will drive up best practice and strengthened ways of working amongst key partners. We are also working to establish the new National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection which will drive up best practice and strengthened ways of working amongst key partners.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she has considered the merits of making it mandatory for DBS checks to be (a) single use and (b) job specific.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not place requirements on how DBS checks are used. It is for individual sectors to decide what, if anything, they want to mandate for their sectors
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the number of polygamous marriages recognised for limited purposes under UK immigration or family law in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
All marriages conducted within the UK must be monogamous under the Marriage Act 1949 and related legislation.
In some countries, polygamous or polyandrous marriages are permitted under the law of the country in which the marriage took place. Under the UK’s Immigration Rules only one spouse from a polygamous marriage can be granted entry or permission to stay in the UK as a partner. Additional spouses are not eligible for partner routes.
No official data is collected on the number of polygamous marriages among applicants.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the recent changes to mandatory requirements for British Nationals (Overseas) who have not yet obtained indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains steadfast in its support for members of the Hong Kong community in the UK.
BN(O) visa holders will attract a 5-year reduction in the qualifying period for settlement, meaning they will continue to be able to settle in the UK after 5 years’ residence, subject to meeting the mandatory requirements.
The new mandatory requirements for settlement are basic requirements that we think are reasonable for people to meet if they want to settle here. However, we are seeking views on earned settlement through the public consultation A Fairer Pathway to Settlement and will continue to listen to the views of Hong Kongers. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following that consultation. An impact assessment will be developed alongside the finalised policy.
In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the BN(O) route will continue to apply.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to change the minimum income requirement and English language proficiency level for applicants under the BN(O) visa scheme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains steadfast in its support for members of the Hong Kong community in the UK.
There are no plans to change the requirements of the BN(O) visa route for those applying for entry clearance or permission to stay.
As set out in the public consultation A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, BN(O) visa holders will continue to be able to settle in the UK after 5 years residence, subject to meeting the mandatory requirements which include meeting level B2 in English language and having paid at least three years of National Insurance contributions.
We are seeking views on earned settlement through the public consultation and will continue to listen to the views of Hong Kongers. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following that consultation. In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the BN(O) route will continue to apply.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign students have had their visas revoked because of nationality security concerns since 2015, broken down by (a) year, and (b) nationality.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of reports of attempts by foreign state actors to influence UK political discourse during and after the 2016 EU Referendum.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
It is, and always will be, an absolute priority to protect the UK against foreign interference. The Government is clear that any interference in our democracy is unacceptable.
The Government has taken steps to strengthen our resilience to foreign interference. This includes the updated guidance published by the National Protective Security Authority on 13 October, the Counter Political Interference and Espionage Action Plan which I set out in Parliament on 18 November. The National Security Act 2023, including the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme and its enhanced tier, give law enforcement and the intelligence services the powers they need to disrupt the full range of state threat activity.
This government will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect UK democracy.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has a policy on naming organisations (a) regarded as extremist and (b) subject to non-engagement.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office cannot comment on specific groups or individual cases.
This Government takes the threat from extremism very seriously. As a society we must not permit those that radicalise others into violence and terrorism to act with impunity. The Government is committed to tackling those who spread views that promote violence and hatred against individuals and communities in our society, and that radicalise others into terrorism
Each department must consider their own due diligence when choosing to engage with any organisation or individual.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals were granted entry visas to the UK under the high-potential individual route in (1) 2023–24, and (2) 2024–25.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas by visa type in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release]. Data on grants of visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the ‘detailed entry clearance visas dataset’ [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables#entry-clearance-visas-granted-outside-the-uk].
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from January 2005 up to the end of September 2025.
Figures for visa grants for the High Potential Individual route can be seen in the table below.
Quarter | Main Applicants | Dependants | Total |
2023 Q1 | 517 | 100 | 617 |
2023 Q2 | 583 | 85 | 668 |
2023 Q3 | 620 | 70 | 690 |
2023 Q4 | 493 | 76 | 569 |
2024 Q1 | 399 | 73 | 472 |
2024 Q2 | 544 | 56 | 600 |
2024 Q3 | 497 | 43 | 540 |
2024 Q4 | 357 | 31 | 388 |
2025 Q1 | 336 | 73 | 409 |
2025 Q2 | 605 | 70 | 675 |
2025 Q3 | 536 | 68 | 604 |
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 she is taking to reduce immigration.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
In July we began implementing the first set of reforms outlined in the Immigration White Paper. These reforms represent a fundamental shift in the UK’s approach to immigration, focusing on higher skills, lower numbers and tighter controls. Our approach will end the UK’s reliance on overseas recruitment and ensure the system better supports investment in the domestic workforce.
We are now delivering on further commitments from the White Paper, with a range of changes to immigration rules laid on 14 October – focusing on tightening the system further and attracting highly skilled talent to the UK to boost the economy. The changes will come into effect over the following months.
This Government is pursuing a comprehensive plan to tackle illegal immigration, through targeted enforcement against the small boat gangs, stronger action alongside our international partners to prevent Channel crossings, increasing the removal of people with no right to be in the UK, cracking down further on illegal working, and continuing our efforts to clear the asylum backlog and end the use of hotels by the end of this Parliament.
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act received Royal Assent on 2 December 2025. The Act provides new tools, powers and offences aimed at strengthening cross-system working and enabling earlier, more far-reaching interventions against organised immigration crime and serious organised crime.
Furthermore, on 17 November, this Government published a statement entitled “Restoring Order and Control” which set out significant reforms to the UK’s asylum and illegal migration system. The statement outlined the current challenges, the Government’s objectives, and a comprehensive package of measures to restore order, control, fairness and public confidence in the system. In July we began implementing the first set of reforms outlined in the Immigration White Paper. These reforms represent a fundamental shift in the UK’s approach to immigration, focusing on higher skills, lower numbers and tighter controls. Our approach will end the UK’s reliance on overseas recruitment and ensure the system better supports investment in the domestic workforce.