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 improve transparency in the way crime data is published.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Office for National Statistics has primary responsibility for publishing information on crime statistics.
They publish progress updates on their crime statistics improvement programme, with the last update in July 2025, available here: Improving crime statistics for England and Wales – progress update - Office for National Statistics
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 trends in the level of alcohol related antisocial behaviour.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes quarterly data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) on the percentage of respondents who reported antisocial behaviour in their area, broken down by type of ASB. This includes “Drink related behaviour”, “Loud music or other noise” and “vehicle related behaviour”. This can be found in tables D1 to D3 of the Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables here: Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics
The Home Office additionally collects and publishes information on the number of antisocial behaviour incidents recorded by the police; broken down by the 3 ASB types of “Personal”, “Nuisance” and “Environmental” - however whether these incidents were related to alcohol, noise or nuisance bikers is not separately identifiable. This data can also be found in Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables in tables D4 to D5
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 trends in the level of antisocial behaviour relating to nuisance bikers.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes quarterly data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) on the percentage of respondents who reported antisocial behaviour in their area, broken down by type of ASB. This includes “Drink related behaviour”, “Loud music or other noise” and “vehicle related behaviour”. This can be found in tables D1 to D3 of the Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables here: Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics
The Home Office additionally collects and publishes information on the number of antisocial behaviour incidents recorded by the police; broken down by the 3 ASB types of “Personal”, “Nuisance” and “Environmental” - however whether these incidents were related to alcohol, noise or nuisance bikers is not separately identifiable. This data can also be found in Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables in tables D4 to D5
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 trends in the level of antisocial behaviour relating to noise.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes quarterly data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) on the percentage of respondents who reported antisocial behaviour in their area, broken down by type of ASB. This includes “Drink related behaviour”, “Loud music or other noise” and “vehicle related behaviour”. This can be found in tables D1 to D3 of the Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables here: Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics
The Home Office additionally collects and publishes information on the number of antisocial behaviour incidents recorded by the police; broken down by the 3 ASB types of “Personal”, “Nuisance” and “Environmental” - however whether these incidents were related to alcohol, noise or nuisance bikers is not separately identifiable. This data can also be found in Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables in tables D4 to D5
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will give police further powers to combat antisocial drug smoking within houses.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police, local authorities and other relevant agencies already have a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond to anti-social behaviour, including drug misuse. This includes the powers provided by the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, such as the Closure Power, which the police and councils can use to close premises which are being used, or are likely to be used, to commit nuisance or disorder, and the power provided under Section 17 (1) (b) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) for police officers to enter a property without a warrant to arrest a person for an indictable offence, where there are reasonable grounds for believing the person is on the premises.
It is unlawful to possess or supply controlled drugs without a Home Office licence and we expect the police to enforce the law, but the use of such powers is an operational decision and, as with all intrusive police powers, must be exercised in a lawful, necessary, proportionate and accountable way, in accordance with the PACE Codes of Practice.
Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA) is another key tool that helps the police to identify individuals who have been using illicit drugs and support them to change their behaviour and reduce future offending. Through the Crime and Policing Bill we are expanding the offences which can trigger a test and enhancing powers to widen the range of drugs that can be tested for.
Tacking anti-social behaviour, including dug misuse, is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. We have committed to adding 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities and ensuring residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong, and we remain committed to working across public health, education, policing and wider public services on prevention to drive down drug use and ensure more people receive timely intervention and support.
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 trends in the number of offences for driving under the influence of (a) alcohol and (b) drugs.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects information on the number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, including the number of ‘Causing death by careless driving under influence of drink or drugs’ offences. These are published on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/police-recorded-crime-and-outcomes-open-data-tables
It is not possible to separately identify which of these offences relate to alcohol and which relate to drugs.
There are a number of summary only offences relating to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, which do not result in death, but these are not collected by the Home Office, as they are not notifiable offences.
The Home Office also collects and publishes data on the number of roadside alcohol screening breath tests carried out by police in England and Wales, on an annual basis, as part of the ‘Police powers and procedures: Roads policing’ statistical bulletin. The most recent data, up to 2023, can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-roads-policing-to-december-2023
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will declare a national emergency regarding the cross Channel small boat migration crisis.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The number of small boat crossings is too high and this Government is taking action. The Home Secretary has announced the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in decades, removing the incentives that bring illegal migrants to the UK and scaling up the return of those with no right to be here.
The Border Security Command is central to this effort, bringing together law enforcement, intelligence sharing, and international cooperation to disrupt smuggling networks and bring perpetrators to justice. For the first time, we have mobilised the whole of government and all operational partners to deliver a coordinated and prioritised range of activities in the UK and with partners overseas. Our historic deal with the French means those who arrive on small boats are now being sent back.
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, which came into force on 5 January 2026, provides new powers to seize electronic devices from illegal migrants and introduces offences targeting small boat smuggling and concealment in vehicles. These measures strengthen our ability to disrupt organised immigration crime and reduce irregular migration.
Disruption of organised crime groups has intensified, increasing domestic action against organised immigration crime (OIC) via enhanced powers and intensified law enforcement operations, targeting upstream facilitators, disrupting OIC business models via targeting, the illicit financial flows, small boat equipment supply chains and online networks of organised crime groups (OCG)s.
We have boosted the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) capabilities through an extra £100 million funding which will pay for up to 300 extra NCA officers, state-of-the art detection technology and new equipment to smash the networks putting lives at risk in the Channel. This approach is working; the year ending September 2025, there were 3,162 OIC disruptions conducted by public bodies, 33% more than in the previous year (2,374). The number of OIC disruptions has steadily increased from an average of 392 disruptions per quarter in 2023, to 791 per quarter in the latest year.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what background checks her Department conducts on migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office conducts mandatory identity and security checks on all small boat arrivals.
As part of this process, the Home Office collects biometric data—such as facial images and fingerprints—to establish identity. These biometrics are checked against Home Office systems and other law enforcement databases, including Interpol’s wanted list. This enables us to identify individuals, assess whether they pose a risk to public safety, and determine any breaches of immigration law. These checks are essential to maintaining a secure, fair, and effective immigration system.
In line with the Refugee Convention, refugee status will be denied to those who have committed serious crimes, pose a danger to the community, or present a threat to national security.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much their Department has spent on (a) advertising and (b) marketing in each of the last three years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Determining the amount spent by the Home Office on advertising and marketing specifically is not readily available from our finance system. To try to identify the information under scope would require a manual review of multiple expenditure categories and transactions, over three years. This could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Government policies and programmes affect the lives of millions of people and in order for them to work, they must be communicated effectively to engage the public and effect positive behaviour change. However, this has to be done with cost efficiency in mind and there are strict rules to ensure value for money on Government advertising.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who have crossed the English Channel in small boats have been linked to proscribed terrorist groups in each of the last three years.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The first priority of Government is protecting national security and the safety of UK citizens. All applications for UK immigration status, including for all those arriving through illegal migration routes, are subject to comprehensive checks.
It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on operational security matters or specific cases. However, where an individual is assessed as presenting a risk to our country, we take swift and robust action.
The Home Office uses various tools to detect and disrupt travel by criminals, by those posing a national security risk, and by individuals excluded from the UK or previously deported from the UK.