Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 setting up a licensing regime for the sale of crossbows.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is actively considering the introduction of further controls around crossbows. This follows a call for evidence on strengthening controls on crossbows on public safety grounds which ran from 14 February to 9 April 2024.
The call for evidence paper tested ideas for whether there should be some form of licensing regime that would provide further controls on the use, ownership and supply of crossbows including whether sellers should be licensed in some way. The responses have been reviewed and we will publish the Government’s response to the call for evidence shortly, which will include what action we intend to take.
It is an offence, under the Crossbows Act 1987, for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase a crossbow or parts of a crossbow. The Government is taking action to strengthen the law on sales and delivery including from abroad. Measures currently in the Crime and Policing Bill will make it an offence for a delivery business, delivering a crossbow or parts of a crossbow to a residential premises on behalf of a seller outside of the United Kingdom, to hand the package containing the crossbow to someone other than the purchaser and to confirm, through checking an identity document as prescribed and provided by the purchaser, that they are aged 18 or over.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to stop the illegal importation of crossbows.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is actively considering the introduction of further controls around crossbows. This follows a call for evidence on strengthening controls on crossbows on public safety grounds which ran from 14 February to 9 April 2024.
The call for evidence paper tested ideas for whether there should be some form of licensing regime that would provide further controls on the use, ownership and supply of crossbows including whether sellers should be licensed in some way. The responses have been reviewed and we will publish the Government’s response to the call for evidence shortly, which will include what action we intend to take.
It is an offence, under the Crossbows Act 1987, for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase a crossbow or parts of a crossbow. The Government is taking action to strengthen the law on sales and delivery including from abroad. Measures currently in the Crime and Policing Bill will make it an offence for a delivery business, delivering a crossbow or parts of a crossbow to a residential premises on behalf of a seller outside of the United Kingdom, to hand the package containing the crossbow to someone other than the purchaser and to confirm, through checking an identity document as prescribed and provided by the purchaser, that they are aged 18 or over.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the (a) nationalities and (b) age group range of the illegal migrants arrested following raids carried out by Immigration Enforcement between October 2024 and September 2025.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as the quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics while developing new statistics for future release.
We do not routinely publish the information you have requested, and we are unable to provide this information, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers in her Department have met British Refugee Council since July 2024.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
All ministerial meetings are declared through the transparency returns.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the migrants removed to France under the UK-France treaty were given payments ahead of their removal.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
No migrants were given payments to return to France under the Treaty.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many extradition cases have involved requests for European Arrests Warrants issued under part 1 from European countries for requested persons who were not citizens of the requesting state have been heard in courts in England and Wales in the past five years.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office does not hold this information requested.
The National Crime Agency is the competent authority for all extradition requests between the UK and EU Member States and, as such, is the holder of all verified data concerning UK-EU extradition cooperation.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers accommodated in (a) hotels or (b) other residences were in that accommodation for longer than 12 months since 2022.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of asylum seekers accommodated in hotel and other residences can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people attempting to illegally enter the UK by stowing away in (a) lorries and (b) other road vehicles have been apprehended in each of the past ten years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Irregular migration data, which includes figures for clandestine detections at UK ports, is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables#irregular-migration.
The Home Office does not disclose statistics regarding the specific vehicle involved in these detections.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the list of (a) nationalities and (b) age group range of the 42 illegal migrants removed to France under the UK-France treaty.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
A full evaluation of the pilot will be completed after its conclusion in June 2026. We will not provide regular updates on ongoing operations, as this involves sensitive information that could prove valuable to the organised immigration crime gangs that are behind small boats crossings.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 the public purse of operating the UK/European Applicant Transfer Scheme.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
In August a £100m funding boost was announced for this financial year to bring forward a number of projects to secure our borders. This includes our landmark pilot with France which the UK/European Applicant Transfer Scheme is part of. More on this £100 million comprehensive funding package can be found at the following link: Investment for Border Security Command to tackle people smuggling gangs - GOV.UK
There are commercially sensitive arrangements as part of the UK/European Applicant Transfer Scheme which we do not comment on. To do otherwise could harm our ability to get the best value for money for the British taxpayer.