Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 18 December 2025 (HL12683) and 22 January 2026 (HL13471), what is the public interest reason for not disclosing (1) the dates of group phone calls with lobbyists, and (2) the names of the lobbying firms being briefed by the Government, in line with the guidance in the paragraphs 211 and 223 of the Guide to Parliamentary Work, updated 19 November 2024.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

I refer the Noble Lord back to HL12683:

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government on what dates calls have been held between the government and corporate lobbyists since 4 July 2024; which lobbying firms joined those calls; and which ministers have joined those calls.

Answer: Details of Ministers and Senior Officials' meetings, including those held using video or audio-conferencing technology, and including phone calls where these replace or take the format of an official meeting, are published by departments on GOV.UK every quarter.

GOV.UK transparency publications list details of Ministers' and Senior Officials' official meetings with all external organisations, including organised group telephone or video calls, where these replace or take the format of an official meeting.

These publications include the dates of meetings or calls, and the name(s) of the organisation(s) with whom the minister or senior official met.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to paragraph 3.11 of the Ministerial Code, whether the Prime Minister has ensured that the second homes council tax premium has been properly discharged continually since 1 April 2025.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Ministerial Code sets out the standards of conduct expected of ministers. Ministers are personally responsible for deciding how to act and conduct themselves in the light of the Code.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Hanson of Flint on 4 March (HL Deb col 1399), what the timeline is for developing technical solutions with technology companies and partners; and what form those solutions will take.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Operation Reckoning is delivering a surged enforcement response aimed at tackling all layers of criminal activity associated with the model of phone theft in London, including street level offenders, middle market handlers and those responsible for the export of stolen devices. It is delivering significant results: in the 12 months to February, mobile phone theft in the capital fell by 12.3% on the previous year.

We welcome this significant progress, but too many people are still being subjected to the considerable distress and disruption caused by these criminals and we are determined to bring these numbers down further.

To break the business model that drives mobile phone theft, we need to reduce the value of a stolen device. The Metropolitan Police are leading work with technology partners to look at the quickest and most effective ways of achieving this outcome and we are working in close support of this collaboration.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they will next convene a summit with (1) mobile phone operators, (2) mobile phone manufacturers, and (3) law enforcement professionals, to discuss strategies to disrupt and curtail the organised crime business model for stolen mobile phone devices; and what the format of that summit will be.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Operation Reckoning is delivering a surged enforcement response aimed at tackling all layers of criminal activity associated with the model of phone theft in London, including street level offenders, middle market handlers and those responsible for the export of stolen devices. It is delivering significant results: in the 12 months to February, mobile phone theft in the capital fell by 12.3% on the previous year.

We welcome this significant progress, but too many people are still being subjected to the considerable distress and disruption caused by these criminals and we are determined to bring these numbers down further.

To break the business model that drives mobile phone theft, we need to reduce the value of a stolen device. The Metropolitan Police are leading work with technology partners to look at the quickest and most effective ways of achieving this outcome and we are working in close support of this collaboration.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Hanson of Flint on 4 March (HL Deb col 1399), what aspects of Operation Reckoning are focused on disrupting or removing the organised crime business model for stole mobile phone devices.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Operation Reckoning is delivering a surged enforcement response aimed at tackling all layers of criminal activity associated with the model of phone theft in London, including street level offenders, middle market handlers and those responsible for the export of stolen devices. It is delivering significant results: in the 12 months to February, mobile phone theft in the capital fell by 12.3% on the previous year.

We welcome this significant progress, but too many people are still being subjected to the considerable distress and disruption caused by these criminals and we are determined to bring these numbers down further.

To break the business model that drives mobile phone theft, we need to reduce the value of a stolen device. The Metropolitan Police are leading work with technology partners to look at the quickest and most effective ways of achieving this outcome and we are working in close support of this collaboration.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules, published on 5 March (HC1691), what estimate they have made of the number of individuals who will be affected by the changes to the EU Settlement Scheme to extend the period to 60 months in which an individual can use an expired biometric residence card as proof of their identity and nationality; and on what evidential basis that decision was taken.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The change in HC1691 extends the current provision which allows a non-EEA national to use an expired biometric residence card (BRC) as proof of their identity and nationality, where the BRC is up to 18 months expired. The change therefore allows a wider cohort of BRC holders to remain on a fully digital application journey, without having to attend a UK visa application centre. It also assists wider UK Visas and Immigration customers by lowering demand on UK Visas and Citizenship Application Services.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total cost of the inquiry undertaken by the Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens' Rights Agreements into delays issuing decisions on applications to the EU Settlement Scheme.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements does not record the cost of individual inquiries.

Costs to the Independent Monitoring Authority largely comprise staffing. The inquiry was primarily delivered by a small core team - three members of staff at any one time - who were also involved in other operational work.

Found: Barrow; Baroness Brown of Silvertown; Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell; Lord Grantchester; Lord Jackson of Peterborough