Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the evidence presented by BBC Panorama that ketamine is openly advertised for sale on the internet, and delivered to the buyer speedily.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling the supply of illegal drugs, including online, and the harms associated with their misuse.
Our County Lines Programme is targeting exploitative drug-dealing gangs while breaking the organised crime groups behind this trade. Between July 2024 and March 2025, law enforcement activity delivered through the Programme has resulted in more than 1,200 drug dealing lines closed and 2,000 arrests. In parallel, law enforcement agencies continue to target those facilitating the online sale of drugs. The National Crime Agency is working with partners in the UK and internationally to target offenders operating on open and dark-net markets, and to take down UK-based sites committing offences.
In addition, the Government has strengthened the regulatory framework to address online harms. The unlawful sale of controlled drugs online is a priority offence under the illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act 2023 and internet companies are legally required to implement measures to protect their users and to remove illegal content from their platforms, including that related to the sale of illegal drugs. Ofcom, as the independent regulator, is monitoring compliance with the regime.
Finally, the Minister for Policing and Crime Prevention wrote to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in January 2025 to request an updated assessment about ketamine, including advice on reducing harms. The ACMD is also reviewing internet-facilitated drugs markets. The Government will consider their advice carefully once received.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have held discussions with the government of China about the importation of stolen and trackable mobile phones from the UK.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling mobile phone theft is a key priority for this Government. In February, the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, local government representatives, leading technology companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves.
The Summit resulted in commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the problem, better understand the role of organised crime networks (both in the UK and overseas), and identify the most effective means of tackling these crimes.
While we have not held discussions with the government of China about the importation of stolen mobile phones from the UK, we are continuing to engage with international partners and multilateral organisations to share information and explore further opportunities for cooperation in order to most effectively tackle mobile phone theft.
The Home Secretary will reconvene relevant stakeholders in due course to review progress made and determine next steps to ensure that the police, technology companies and the Government continue to work together to tackle this criminality.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following their newly announced policies on immigration, whether they plan to conduct a review of current skill shortages in every part of the UK economy, provide an analysis of any additional skill shortages that new immigration policies will bring, and propose measures to ensure the effective provision of skills in the future for the UK economy.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The new approach the Government is setting out will mean much stronger links between the Points-Based System and training here in the UK. We will introduce requirements for workforce strategies and bring together a new Labour Market Evidence Group to work together to gather and share evidence about the state of each workforce in key sectors, training levels and participation by the domestic labour market.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in their discussions with the government of India about the large-scale online organisations identified by the BBC's Scam Interceptors programme, which seek to defraud UK internet users and which operate out of Kolkata.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We applaud the BBC’s Scam Interceptors programme for the work they have done both to warn viewers in the UK about the risk of online and telephone scams, and to highlight the practices of organised fraud gangs, operating out of India and elsewhere.
The fraud threat to the UK is varied and we continue to work with key partners from across the globe to target fraud at its source and protect the UK public. This includes engaging with the Government of India directly to see what more can be done, including on law enforcement collaboration and sharing best practice on fraud prevention.
We have also introduced a series of sector charters with industry to agree voluntary actions to protect consumers from a range of fraud. This includes the Online Fraud Charter, signed by some of the largest online platforms and services. The Charter actions seek to improve blocking fraud at source, make reporting fraud easier and decreasing the time it takes to remove fraudulent content and advertisements.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to review the working of the UK–US extradition treaty.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
There is no current intention to review the UK-US Extradition Treaty. The UK-US Extradition Treaty continues to produce tangible results, bringing justice to victims in both the UK and US.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will consult with motor vehicle manufacturers about introducing measures to eliminate the cloning of owners’ remote locking devices by car thieves.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government works closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime and the police-led National Vehicle Crime Working Group, which focuses on tackling vehicle crime. The working group which brings together representatives of the Government, policing, and vehicle manufacturers to address vulnerabilities in vehicles.
The Government keeps all legislation under review. We will be introducing a Crime and Policing Bill and will consider what measures are needed to support efforts to tackle and prevent vehicle crime.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of India about the large-scale online organisations identified by the BBC's Scam Interceptors programme, which seek to defraud UK internet users and which operate out of Kolkata.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
We are developing stronger partnerships with countries across the world to build the global response to this vile threat and tackle fraudsters wherever they are based. We are hosting the inaugural Global Fraud Summit in March, which will convene key allies to spearhead a coordinated diplomatic and law enforcement approach to tackling fraud internationally.
We are also engaging with the Government of India directly to see what more can be done, including on law enforcement collaboration and sharing best practice on fraud prevention.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have gathered data on the prevalence of e-bikers exceeding the speed limit of 15.5 miles per hour in urban areas; and if so, whether they will publish them.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and other outcomes for motoring offences in England and Wales on an annual basis, as part of the ‘Police Powers and Procedures: Other PACE’ statistical bulletin. The most recent data, up to 2021, is available here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1118166/fixed-penalty-notices-and-other-motoring-offences-statistics-police-powers-and-procedures-year-ending-31-december-2021.ods
However, the Home Office does not centrally collect data on the type of vehicle involved in the offence.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why it has taken six years for them to respond to the report The patronising disposition of unaccountable power: A report to ensure the pain and suffering of the Hillsborough families is not repeated (Session 2017–19, HC 511) on the Hillsborough disaster of 1989.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
For much of the time since Bishop James Jones’ report on the experiences of the Hillsborough families was published there were ongoing legal proceedings; it was clearly important that the Government did not take any action which might risk prejudicing the outcome of those proceedings.
More recently, the Government has been undertaking work to go further to deliver on issues that are important to the families, and to make sure that similar injustices are not repeated.
In publishing its response to Bishop James’ report on 6 December, ministers in both Houses apologised to the Hillsborough families on behalf of the Government for the length of time taken to do so.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the root cause of the nationwide failure of passport e-gates on 26 and 27 May.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
It has never been government practice, for reasons of law enforcement, to comment on operational issues relating to border security and immigration controls. This includes offering commentary on the performance of border systems and of ePassport Gates data specifically.
Border Force’s number one priority is to maintain a secure border, and we will not compromise on this, but we are committed to ensuring passengers have the smoothest possible journey they can. As we continue to deliver change to our border systems we are committed to ensuring that resilience is at the heart of everything that we do