Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to support police officers in tackling knife crime amongst young adults.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Preventing children and young people from becoming involved in knife crime while supporting the police to tackle offending where it occurs, is central to our mission to halve knife crime in a decade and to make our streets safer. Protecting Lives, Building Hope: A Plan to Halve Knife Crime details the full range of measures that Government is taking to tackle the root causes of knife crime among young people and to strengthen enforcement.
In February 2026, the Home Office and Ministry of Justice announced new action to tackle child knife possession. The new guidance, which came into force on 1 April 2026, ensures that Police and Youth Justice Services work together so that every child caught carrying a knife is given a mandatory targeted plan to address the root causes of their offending and help prevent further offending.
We are also supporting early intervention and prevention by investing over £66 million in the Serious Violence Reduction Programme and the Serious Violence Duty this financial year. This funding will help continue the work of Violence Reduction Units, which bring together local partners to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their areas, and will support the Young Futures Panel pilots, which identify young people at risk of being drawn into crime and provide early, targeted and diversionary support.
Our new Knife Crime Concentrations Fund will also invest £26.25 million this year to strengthen enforcement and prevention in the areas most affected by knife crime. Building on last year's hyperlocal knife crime pilots, we are expanding this approach across 27 police force areas, which together account for around 90% of knife crime in England and Wales. This funding will support police forces and local partners to work together to identify and tackle the specific factors driving knife crime in the locations most affected, enabling targeted and evidence-led interventions.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she is taking to prevent knife crime amongst young people.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Preventing children and young people from becoming involved in knife crime while supporting the police to tackle offending where it occurs, is central to our mission to halve knife crime in a decade and to make our streets safer. Protecting Lives, Building Hope: A Plan to Halve Knife Crime details the full range of measures that Government is taking to tackle the root causes of knife crime among young people and to strengthen enforcement.
In February 2026, the Home Office and Ministry of Justice announced new action to tackle child knife possession. The new guidance, which came into force on 1 April 2026, ensures that Police and Youth Justice Services work together so that every child caught carrying a knife is given a mandatory targeted plan to address the root causes of their offending and help prevent further offending.
We are also supporting early intervention and prevention by investing over £66 million in the Serious Violence Reduction Programme and the Serious Violence Duty this financial year. This funding will help continue the work of Violence Reduction Units, which bring together local partners to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their areas, and will support the Young Futures Panel pilots, which identify young people at risk of being drawn into crime and provide early, targeted and diversionary support.
Our new Knife Crime Concentrations Fund will also invest £26.25 million this year to strengthen enforcement and prevention in the areas most affected by knife crime. Building on last year's hyperlocal knife crime pilots, we are expanding this approach across 27 police force areas, which together account for around 90% of knife crime in England and Wales. This funding will support police forces and local partners to work together to identify and tackle the specific factors driving knife crime in the locations most affected, enabling targeted and evidence-led interventions.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of preventing asylum seekers in Home Office supported accommodation from being able to go out into the community freely.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
In accordance with current legislation, people with a valid pending claim for asylum are permitted to remain in the UK while their claim is being processed, and as they have permission to remain in the UK during that time, they cannot be routinely detained. Detention is primarily used to facilitate removal of those who have no lawful right to remain in the UK, and who refuse to leave voluntarily.
Those in the asylum system who have valid leave may be subject to conditions under section 71 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. Asylum Seekers who have no leave to be in the UK, who are not detained, will be placed on immigration bail with strict conditions set under Schedule 10 to the Immigration Act 2016.
The conditions imposed are considered on a case-by-case basis and can include requirements on where a person must live, as well as obligations to maintain regular contact with the Home Office. This may include reporting in person, by telephone or digitally, and notifying the Home Office of any changes to contact details. Failure to comply with these conditions may result in further immigration enforcement action including immigration detention.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of people who have entered Britain illegally in the last three years that have previously been convicted of a crime in another country.
Answered by Alex Norris - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of people who are detected arriving in the UK via illegal entry routes in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release. The published statistics do not show whether those arriving have previously been convicted of a crime.
Information on the number of people in the immigration system who may have foreign convictions would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by various teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her department holds on the total cost to the public purse of (a) translation and (b) interpretation for foreign languages with regards to the asylum process.
Answered by Alex Norris - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The information requested is not centrally held and could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle motorcycle theft in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) nationwide.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Through our policing reform programme, we are introducing the most significant changes to policing in nearly 200 years. A central aim of this agenda is to protect and revitalise neighbourhood policing, including by lifting national responsibilities from local forces so they can focus on tackling the crimes that matter most locally, such as motorcycle and other vehicle theft.
We are also strengthening the powers available to the police. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are equipping officers with enhanced powers, including the ability to enter and search premises where stolen items that have been GPS tracked are reasonably believed to be located and where it is not practicable to obtain a warrant. This will enable the police to act more swiftly and effectively to recover stolen vehicles, including motorcycles.
We recognise the role of organised criminality in driving vehicle theft. Since 2024, the Home Office has committed almost £1 million (£970,000) in targeted funding through the National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership to strengthen the law enforcement response to organised vehicle theft. This has supported enforcement activity inland and at ports to disrupt stolen vehicles and parts being exported, including through additional staff, police training and specialist equipment. A further £300,000 will be invested this year to build on this progress.
In the year to December 2025, the police in England and Wales recorded 115, 431 incidents of theft of a motor vehicle, including motorcycles. This is a decrease of 8% across compared with the previous year.
Police recorded crime data is not available at the level of parliamentary constituency, however the Home Office collects data at a Community Safety Partnership level.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria her department uses when selecting locations for asylum accommodation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The Home Office and its accommodation providers continually assess a range of potential accommodation options across the UK to meet statutory duties. Decisions on the use of alternative asylum accommodation sites will be made on a site-by-site basis and community cohesion is fully considered in site selection. We will ensure that any development is safe, appropriate and compliant with planning regulations.
Our accommodation providers ensure that consultation with local authorities is carried out in accordance with the requirements and standards set out in the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts.
The Full Dispersal model works to ensure that asylum accommodation is equitably and fairly spread out across the country, meaning that a small number of local authorities are not unduly burdened. Dispersed Accommodation offers accommodation that delivers better value for money for the taxpayer and helps the Home Office work towards the fair and equitable spread of accommodation.
Whatever decisions are made regarding specific locations, we are clear that the impact on communities must be minimised. The safety and security of people living and working in the surrounding areas is paramount.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of police powers to seize (a) motorcycles and (b) other vehicles being used antisocially.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
New powers in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 remove the requirement for police to issue a warning before seizing motorcycles and other vehicles used antisocially. In May 2025, the Government launched a consultation on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially. The Government response to the consultation was published on 9 June. It sets out our intention to reduce and align timelines to dispose of seized vehicles from up to three months to seven days. Changes will be made when legislative time allows.
We are taking steps to ensure local police forces can tackle anti-social behaviour in local communities. The Government has put more than 3,000 extra officers into neighbourhood roles in less than a year. They are dedicated to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in their local communities and towns through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to increase police powers to address antisocial off-road biking.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
New powers in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 remove the requirement for police to issue a warning before seizing motorcycles and other vehicles used antisocially. In May 2025, the Government launched a consultation on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially. The Government response to the consultation was published on 9 June. It sets out our intention to reduce and align timelines to dispose of seized vehicles from up to three months to seven days. Changes will be made when legislative time allows.
We are taking steps to ensure local police forces can tackle anti-social behaviour in local communities. The Government has put more than 3,000 extra officers into neighbourhood roles in less than a year. They are dedicated to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in their local communities and towns through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle antisocial biking in towns.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
New powers in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 remove the requirement for police to issue a warning before seizing motorcycles and other vehicles used antisocially. In May 2025, the Government launched a consultation on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially. The Government response to the consultation was published on 9 June. It sets out our intention to reduce and align timelines to dispose of seized vehicles from up to three months to seven days. Changes will be made when legislative time allows.
We are taking steps to ensure local police forces can tackle anti-social behaviour in local communities. The Government has put more than 3,000 extra officers into neighbourhood roles in less than a year. They are dedicated to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in their local communities and towns through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.