Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the level of impact of disruption to entry and exit systems at UK borders during the Christmas period on the economy.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Entry / Exit System (EES) is an EU system; we are working with the French authorities and UK operators at St Pancras, Folkestone, and Port of Dover to minimise disruption.
There has been no disruption at the UK border related to EES. The system is being introduced through a phased implementation, and no meaningful assessment can be made at this stage of the rollout.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to (a) businesses and (b) travellers arising from delays associated with the entry and exit system into the European Union.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Entry / Exit System (EES) is an EU system; we are working with the French authorities and UK operators at St Pancras, Folkestone, and Port of Dover to minimise disruption.
There has been no disruption at the UK border related to EES. The system is being introduced through a phased implementation, and no meaningful assessment can be made at this stage of the rollout.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of streamlining visa arrangements for musicians, performers, and other cultural professionals working between the UK and the EU.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The UK immigration system is generous in its provisions for musicians, performers and other cultural professionals, with different pathways for non-visa nationals (such as EU/EEA nationals) in the creative sector to come to the UK without requiring a visa. We continually keep our policies under review and the Government has committed to supporting touring artists at the UK-EU summit in May last year.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help improve police efficiency in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The policing system must be equipped to serve the public effectively and to make efficient use of its funding and resources.
The Government has established a Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme which will save £354 million and free up millions of officer hours by 2029 across policing. The programme’s initiatives are available to all 43 forces across England & Wales. Surrey has already started to participate in some of the programme’s offerings including signing up to a new commercial energy strategy to increase price certainty and reduce risk in a volatile market.
In the coming weeks, we will be setting out further reforms in a white paper on policing.
Surrey Police will receive up to £343 million in 2026/27, an increase of up to £14.8 million when compared to the 2025/26 police funding settlement.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of automatic number plate recognition cameras in operation across (a) England and (b) Wales.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
At present UK Law Enforcement Agencies have access to ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) data from 12,076 camera locations in England, Scotland and Wales via the National ANPR Service (NAS).
Further cameras will be used by Local Authorities in the UK use ANPR cameras to enforce traffic rules, manage restricted zones like Low Emission Zones (LEZ), School Streets, and Lorry Controls, monitor traffic flow, and tackle anti-social behaviour, issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) for violations like driving in bus lanes or breaching HGV access times. Many more are used privately by petrol station forecourt and car parking operators.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle cyber crime in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Cyber crime causes huge damage to people and businesses across the UK and is a leading priority for the Government. The Home Office works with our partners across Government and law enforcement, including the National Crime Agency, National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Policing to tackle all cyber threat, including cyber crime.
The Home Office funds the Regional Cyber Crime Units (RCCUs) across England and Wales, tasked with investigating and pursuing serious cyber offenders conducting crime committed in, or against, the UK. This includes the South East Cyber Crime Unit in the South East Regional Crime Unit (SEROCU), which covers Surrey and Surrey Heath. Since 2017, in partnership with local Police and Crime Commissioners, the Home Office has directly funded a national network of specialist officers trained to investigate cyber crime and support local communities in efforts to prevent crimes that occur online.
The South East Cyber Crime Unit is the first in the UK to operate as a fully collaborated unit across the South East Region. It brings together experts from SEROCU, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, Thames Valley Police, Surrey Police, and Sussex Police into a single flexible capability. The unit follows the Serious and Organised Crime ‘4P’ model, including Pursue, Prevent, Protect and Prepare, with each force retaining a Pursue Team working collaboratively with regional resources.
Cyber crime is treated as Serious and Organised Crime within SEROCU’s control strategy. The aim is to identify, disrupt, and reduce the impact of cyber criminals as part of the National Cyber Network. SEROCU target offenders profiting from cyber tools or stolen data, carry out work to prevent cyber crime and pursue criminal justice outcomes as appropriate.
Through Protect and Prepare work, SEROCU engage businesses and communities via outreach, webinars, and partnerships to improve cyber security awareness and assist the public and organisations in recovery and resilience. This includes the Cyber Resilience Centre (CRC) for the South East, funded by the Home Office, which offers a package of measures to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), providing tailored advice and long-term support, aligned to National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) standards, helping these organisations take proactive steps towards improving their cyber security.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle (a) extremism and (b) radicalisation in the (i) South East and (ii) Surrey.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Prevent is a part of the UK’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy and intervenes early to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Home Office funds the highest threat areas to go above and beyond to ensure delivery of the Prevent Duty is targeted and effective, including 1 area in the South-East.
However, the threat and risk of radicalisation is no longer contained within administrative boundaries as we see increases in online radicalisation. In response, we have introduced funding for a regional delivery officer post to provide additional support in some areas across England. Surrey is an early adopter of that model, with an officer in place who covers both Surrey and Sussex. Regional delivery officers will deliver training and community engagement work as well as supporting in a crisis response situation.
In addition, Home Office provides expert support and advice to all local authorities through its regional Prevent Advisers and funding for Prevent projects in local communities that every Local Authority can access.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to provide security protections for faith communities in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This Government is committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion at their chosen place of worship, and to making our streets and communities safer. The Government and police work closely together to review threats and strengthen protections for communities against terrorism and hate crime.
Up to £70.9 million is available to protect faith communities in 2025/26. This includes £18 million through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, £29.4 million through the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme and for security at Muslim faith schools, and £3.5 million through the Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme for places of worship and associated faith community centres of all other faiths. In addition, up to £10 million of emergency funding has been made available for both Jewish and Muslim communities each to further strengthen security measures at their places of worship and other community sites.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of recent trends in levels of violence against women and girls in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable and this Government is treating it as the national emergency it is. The “Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls”, published on 18th December 2025, sets out the strategic direction and concrete actions to prevent violence and abuse, pursue perpetrators, and support victims, and to deliver our unprecedented commitment to halve VAWG in a decade. The headline metric we are using to measure progress against our ambition is through a combined estimate of the proportion of people aged 16 and over who have experienced any of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking in the previous 12 months, based on the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).
Figures for domestic abuse-related offences recorded by the police are published at the Police Force Area level by the Office for National Statistics. The latest available data can be found in Table 8 here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/domesticabuseprevalenceandvictimcharacteristicsappendixtables
Figures for crime recorded by the police may be subject to issues such as recording practices and willingness of victims to contact the police.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle hate crime in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government is determined to tackle all forms of hate crime wherever in the country it occurs, and whoever is responsible for committing it.
We have a robust legislative framework in place to respond to hate crimes which target race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity, and we back the police in taking strong action against the perpetrators of these heinous crimes.
The Home Secretary launched an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October. The review will ensure police powers remain fit for purpose, are used consistently, and strike the right balance between protecting the public and upholding the right to lawful protest.
It will address whether the existing legislation is effective and proportionate, whether it adequately protects communities from intimidation and hate and whether it strikes a fair and sustainable balance between the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest, and the need to prevent disorder and keep communities safe.
In addition, the government funds an online hate crime reporting portal, True Vision, designed so victims of all types of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. The government also funds the National Online Hate Crime Hub, which supports individual local police forces in dealing specifically with online hate crime, providing expert advice to police to support them in investigating these abhorrent offences.