Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made to help support the end to violence against women and girls, including what steps she took during the 6 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in 2025.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 18th December 2025, this government published the ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse; a cross-cutting strategy’, setting out our whole-system approach to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
We have already begun implementing measures, such as rolling out Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, embedding domestic abuse specialists in police control rooms through Raneem’s Law, establishing a new National Policing Centre for VAWG and Public Protection with £13.1 million of funding, and appointing Richard Wright KC to lead the Stalking Legislation Review ensuring the criminal law on stalking is fit for purpose. This is alongside the work done by Ministers during the Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, from 25th November to 10th December 2025, to meet with and support a range of stakeholders and events.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date the contract for body armour between Mehler Vario System GmbH and Cambridgeshire Constabulary expired.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Cambridgeshire Constabulary maintains its own procurement function and the Home Office does not hold information on ongoing or prior contractual arrangements.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to classify misogyny as a hate crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that all victims of hate crime receive equal protection under the law.
That is why we tabled an amendment at Lords Report Stage to the Crime and Policing Bill, extending the aggravated offences in sections 28 to 32 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. This will level up protections by adding transgender identity, sexual orientation, disability and sex to the existing framework, ensuring that hostility based on any of these characteristics is treated with the same seriousness as racially or religiously aggravated offending.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2026 to Question 100508 on Animal Breeding, what assessment she has made of the potential consequences of not holding data on the number of animals in Great Britain who were bred for, but not used in, scientific procedures.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is currently reviewing the potential merits of recording and reporting the number of animals that were bred for, but not used, in scientific procedures.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with which company Cambridgeshire Constabulary has a contract for the provision of body armour for a) firearms and b) roads policing officers.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Cambridgeshire Constabulary maintains its own procurement function and the Home Office does not hold information on ongoing or prior contractual arrangements.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the performance of the Report Fraud service since its launch in December 2025 including of the (a) average response times to fraud reports, (b) proportion of reports resulting in investigation by local police forces and (c) victim satisfaction compared to the previous Action Fraud service.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Report Fraud is the new and improved national police reporting service for fraud and cybercrime which replaced the previous Action Fraud service on 4 December 2025.
Report Fraud uses the latest technology to enhance the reporting experience and report updates for victims, and to improve the speed and quality of information shared with police, increasing the chances of successful investigations and prosecutions.
The City of London Police, who oversee the service, have provided data from the service which shows the following improvements compared to the previous service:
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's open consultation on Earned Settlement, due to close on 12 February 2026, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing transitional arrangements for migrants who entered the Skilled Worker route under previous rules with a legitimate expectation of settlement.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, has been subject to a public consultation which ran until 12 February 2026.
The consultation seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement. Transitional arrangements refer to temporary measures or rules put in place to manage the shift from one system, or policy framework, to another. Details of the earned settlement model, including any transitional arrangements for those already in the UK, will be finalised following thd consultation.
The final model will also be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain criteria on the number of staff in the social care sector.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, announced changes to the mandatory requirements and qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain. It was subject to a public consultation, which ran until 12 February 2026.
As part of this consultation, we are seeking views on the potential impact of the proposed changes on different groups, including those working in sectors such as social care. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following the consultation.
The final proposals will also be subject to full economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of including social care roles within any public service concession.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, announced changes to the mandatory requirements and qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain. It was subject to a public consultation, which ran until 12 February 2026.
As part of this consultation, we are seeking views on the potential impact of the proposed changes on different groups, including those working in sectors such as social care. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following the consultation.
The final proposals will also be subject to full economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether they will require their department and agencies to offer payroll deductions to all employees to enable them to join a credit union.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office introduced a new benefits platform in August 2025 which includes a wellbeing hub with financial education and support.
At the current time the Home Office is not intending to introduce a payroll deduction service for accessing credit unions.