Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent glassware attacks at late night venues.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are responsible for protecting the public by detecting and preventing crime. The government expects the police to respond to all allegations made, including those involving violence in the night time economy, and treat them seriously, investigate and consider any arrests or charging decisions as required.
The Home Office has responsibility for the Licensing Act 2003, which determines the regime for the licensing of, among others, venues which sell alcohol. The Act sets out four licensing objectives: the prevention of crime and disorder; the prevention of public nuisance; upholding public safety and protecting children from harm.
Local licensing authorities are responsible for making licensing decisions in England and Wales and ensuring the licensing objectives are upheld. The Government publishes statutory guidance to assist licensing authorities in fulfilling these duties. The guidance sets out matters that should be considered by a licensing authority in relation to public safety. This explicitly includes giving consideration to requiring, as part of a premises licence, the use of plastic containers and preventing customer access to glass bottles.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Immigration White Paper S.176, what future steps she plans to take to ensure that workers can more efficiently change sponsors.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As per the Immigration White Paper, we are continuing to explore a range of policy options and their feasibility. Further details will follow in due course as necessary and appropriate.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent glassware attacks at late night venues; and whether her Department plans to engage with the Bottle Stop campaign.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are responsible for protecting the public by detecting and preventing crime. The government expects the police to respond to all allegations made, including those involving violence in the night time economy, and treat them seriously, investigate and consider any arrests or charging decisions as required.
The Home Office has responsibility for the Licensing Act 2003, which determines the regime for the licensing of, among others, venues which sell alcohol. The Act sets out four licensing objectives: the prevention of crime and disorder; the prevention of public nuisance; upholding public safety and protecting children from harm.
Local licensing authorities are responsible for making licensing decisions in England and Wales and ensuring the licensing objectives are upheld. The Government publishes statutory guidance to assist licensing authorities in fulfilling these duties. The guidance sets out matters that should be considered by a licensing authority in relation to public safety. This explicitly includes giving consideration to requiring, as part of a premises licence, the use of plastic containers and preventing customer access to glass bottles.
The Government regularly engages with a wide range of stakeholders on matters relating to the Licensing Act 2003 and the sale and supply of alcohol.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Emergency Services Network will be fully operational, including phone-based location tracking capabilities for emergency responders.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The programme’s priority is to achieve the right balance between credible plans that have user confidence and the need to deliver ESN as quickly and safely as possible to enable the shutdown of Airwave.
The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) has successfully concluded two major re-procurements. In November 2024, the Mobile Services contract was awarded to BT/EE, followed by the award of the User Services contract to IBM in December 2024. With these committed delivery partners firmly on board, ESMCP has made excellent progress into full delivery mode.
The programme has finalised a revised Programme Business Case, which has been endorsed by the Senior Users of the three Emergency Services and representatives from the devolved nations. The Business Case is expected to complete departmental and HM Treasury approvals in early 2026. Our user community remains actively engaged in planning the deployment and rollout of the Emergency Services Network (ESN) and ensuring a safe transition from Airwave. Early adoption of a service-ready solution is on track for early 2028, with full transition from Airwave targeted for completion by the end of 2029.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
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 the Electronic Travel Authorisation on European business representatives attending trade events and conferences in the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
ETAs have been introduced to strengthen the security of our border. They also make travel easier by further digitising our immigration and borders system, ensuring millions of visitors, including business travellers, enjoy a seamless experience. The department does not hold data on numbers of visitors attending trade events and conferences.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of measures to deter antisocial behaviour among young people in rural areas, such as North East Hampshire.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
Under the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we are putting neighbourhood officers back into communities, both urban and rural, and restoring public confidence by bringing back community-led, visible policing. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary will receive £5,187,776 as part of the funding settlement for 2025-26.
In addition, the Home Office is providing £66.3 million funding in 2025-26 to all 43 forces in England and Wales to deliver high visibility patrols in the areas worst affected by knife crime, serious violence and anti-social behaviour. As part of the Hotspot Action Fund, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary will be in receipt of £1,454,452.
Following on from the Safer Streets Summer Initiative, the Home Secretary has announced a “Winter of Action” in which police forces across England and Wales will again partner with local businesses, councils and other agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour and other local issues that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the names of (a) banks and (b) other organisations that fail to (i) prevent fraud and (ii) reimburse victims of fraud.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We work closely with the financial sector to disrupt fraud at its source and prevent financial exploitation. We welcome the actions of the financial services industry in helping to prevent authorised push payment (APP) fraud. Data has also shown that banks are increasingly compensating victims following the introduction of mandatory reimbursement through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (APP scams reimbursement dashboard for Q2 2025 | Payment Systems Regulator).
The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) oversees banks’ compliance with regards to mandatory reimbursement, and they will publish their third APP scams performance report, covering 2024, in December. The reports show the sending fraud rates and reimbursement rates of the 14 biggest banks in the UK, putting a spotlight on firms that are the highest receivers of fraud. Previous reports for 2023 and 2022 can be found here: APP fraud performance data | Payment Systems Regulator.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of creating a national online crime agency.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office is considering how best to tackle online crime as part of the upcoming Fraud Strategy, due for publication early next year.
This will include options for enhanced collaboration between industry and law enforcement to address online threats effectively.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken in Certificate of Sponsorship allocations for Skilled Worker visa holders in cases where (a) a compliant sponsor with an A-rated licence has submitted a valid request with supporting evidence and (b) delay risks causing a lawful worker to fall out of immigration status.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
It is the responsibility of individual businesses to monitor the visa expiry dates of their overseas employees and to take appropriate action to ensure continuity of employment.
The published service standard for non-complex Undefined Certificate of Sponsorship (UCoS) allocations and renewals is 18 weeks, as outlined on GOV.UK. Businesses may also opt to use the priority service, which aims to process requests within 5 working days.
Responsibility for submitting timely applications or updates lies with the sponsoring business.
Where necessary, the Home Office conducts additional checks to maintain the integrity of the immigration system, which may delay the processing of applications to assure ourselves that requests are genuine and full time work and employment will be given to a prospective employee, for their own protection.
UK visa sponsorship for employers: Your responsibilities - GOV.UK
The Home Office is currently operating within the published service standards for all Sponsorship applications.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system: white paper, published on 12 May 2025, whether her Department plans to include employment in the public sector as counting towards the long-term contribution to the country under the points-based system for British National (Overseas) visa holders seeking citizenship.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in future.
We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year and further details on the proposed plans for citizenship will be set out in due course.