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 support victims of spiking.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Spiking is an abhorrent crime and illegal in any form, whether through food or drink, vape, or needle. It can affect anyone, at any time and in any setting, regardless of gender, sexuality or age.
Between January 2021 and June 2023, the police received 19,347 reports of spiking. However, it is important to note that the principal offence rule prioritises recording the most serious offence, which means cases of spiking linked to other offences are captured under that substantive category rather than separately in central data.
Additionally, we assess that spiking crimes are underreported for a range of reasons, including embarrassment, lack of trust in the police or assumption that the police could not help or would not believe victims. To help overcome this and encourage more suspected victims of spiking to come forward, including anonymously if they so wish, the Police have launched an online reporting tool, available on police.uk.
The government is enhancing how the police record and report spiking crimes. From April 2026, spiking will be part of the Police’s Annual Data Requirement which will improve both the quality and quantity of data, as well as the frequency of reporting.
The Home Office will also look to utilise the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS), a computer-assisted classification tool, to greatly improve the analysis of the data it receives. NDQIS will have a range of benefits including being able to identify crimes which were facilitated by spiking, such as rape or sexual assault. We expect this to give us a better understanding of the scale of spiking and its use in enabling other crimes.
Tackling spiking is a government priority. We are implementing a comprehensive set of actions to strengthen awareness, prevention and detection, enhance support for victims and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice, including:
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 raise awareness of spiking.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Spiking is an abhorrent crime and illegal in any form, whether through food or drink, vape, or needle. It can affect anyone, at any time and in any setting, regardless of gender, sexuality or age.
Between January 2021 and June 2023, the police received 19,347 reports of spiking. However, it is important to note that the principal offence rule prioritises recording the most serious offence, which means cases of spiking linked to other offences are captured under that substantive category rather than separately in central data.
Additionally, we assess that spiking crimes are underreported for a range of reasons, including embarrassment, lack of trust in the police or assumption that the police could not help or would not believe victims. To help overcome this and encourage more suspected victims of spiking to come forward, including anonymously if they so wish, the Police have launched an online reporting tool, available on police.uk.
The government is enhancing how the police record and report spiking crimes. From April 2026, spiking will be part of the Police’s Annual Data Requirement which will improve both the quality and quantity of data, as well as the frequency of reporting.
The Home Office will also look to utilise the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS), a computer-assisted classification tool, to greatly improve the analysis of the data it receives. NDQIS will have a range of benefits including being able to identify crimes which were facilitated by spiking, such as rape or sexual assault. We expect this to give us a better understanding of the scale of spiking and its use in enabling other crimes.
Tackling spiking is a government priority. We are implementing a comprehensive set of actions to strengthen awareness, prevention and detection, enhance support for victims and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice, including:
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 reported spiking incidents to the police in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Spiking is an abhorrent crime and illegal in any form, whether through food or drink, vape, or needle. It can affect anyone, at any time and in any setting, regardless of gender, sexuality or age.
Between January 2021 and June 2023, the police received 19,347 reports of spiking. However, it is important to note that the principal offence rule prioritises recording the most serious offence, which means cases of spiking linked to other offences are captured under that substantive category rather than separately in central data.
Additionally, we assess that spiking crimes are underreported for a range of reasons, including embarrassment, lack of trust in the police or assumption that the police could not help or would not believe victims. To help overcome this and encourage more suspected victims of spiking to come forward, including anonymously if they so wish, the Police have launched an online reporting tool, available on police.uk.
The government is enhancing how the police record and report spiking crimes. From April 2026, spiking will be part of the Police’s Annual Data Requirement which will improve both the quality and quantity of data, as well as the frequency of reporting.
The Home Office will also look to utilise the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS), a computer-assisted classification tool, to greatly improve the analysis of the data it receives. NDQIS will have a range of benefits including being able to identify crimes which were facilitated by spiking, such as rape or sexual assault. We expect this to give us a better understanding of the scale of spiking and its use in enabling other crimes.
Tackling spiking is a government priority. We are implementing a comprehensive set of actions to strengthen awareness, prevention and detection, enhance support for victims and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice, including:
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 reporting rates for incidents of spiking.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Spiking is an abhorrent crime and illegal in any form, whether through food or drink, vape, or needle. It can affect anyone, at any time and in any setting, regardless of gender, sexuality or age.
Between January 2021 and June 2023, the police received 19,347 reports of spiking. However, it is important to note that the principal offence rule prioritises recording the most serious offence, which means cases of spiking linked to other offences are captured under that substantive category rather than separately in central data.
Additionally, we assess that spiking crimes are underreported for a range of reasons, including embarrassment, lack of trust in the police or assumption that the police could not help or would not believe victims. To help overcome this and encourage more suspected victims of spiking to come forward, including anonymously if they so wish, the Police have launched an online reporting tool, available on police.uk.
The government is enhancing how the police record and report spiking crimes. From April 2026, spiking will be part of the Police’s Annual Data Requirement which will improve both the quality and quantity of data, as well as the frequency of reporting.
The Home Office will also look to utilise the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS), a computer-assisted classification tool, to greatly improve the analysis of the data it receives. NDQIS will have a range of benefits including being able to identify crimes which were facilitated by spiking, such as rape or sexual assault. We expect this to give us a better understanding of the scale of spiking and its use in enabling other crimes.
Tackling spiking is a government priority. We are implementing a comprehensive set of actions to strengthen awareness, prevention and detection, enhance support for victims and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice, including:
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 ensure perpetrators of spiking are (a) detected and (b) arrested.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Spiking is an abhorrent crime and illegal in any form, whether through food or drink, vape, or needle. It can affect anyone, at any time and in any setting, regardless of gender, sexuality or age.
Between January 2021 and June 2023, the police received 19,347 reports of spiking. However, it is important to note that the principal offence rule prioritises recording the most serious offence, which means cases of spiking linked to other offences are captured under that substantive category rather than separately in central data.
Additionally, we assess that spiking crimes are underreported for a range of reasons, including embarrassment, lack of trust in the police or assumption that the police could not help or would not believe victims. To help overcome this and encourage more suspected victims of spiking to come forward, including anonymously if they so wish, the Police have launched an online reporting tool, available on police.uk.
The government is enhancing how the police record and report spiking crimes. From April 2026, spiking will be part of the Police’s Annual Data Requirement which will improve both the quality and quantity of data, as well as the frequency of reporting.
The Home Office will also look to utilise the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS), a computer-assisted classification tool, to greatly improve the analysis of the data it receives. NDQIS will have a range of benefits including being able to identify crimes which were facilitated by spiking, such as rape or sexual assault. We expect this to give us a better understanding of the scale of spiking and its use in enabling other crimes.
Tackling spiking is a government priority. We are implementing a comprehensive set of actions to strengthen awareness, prevention and detection, enhance support for victims and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice, including:
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department keeps records of the location of all asylum seekers who have had their application refused in the UK.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Asylum seekers are not detained and we rely on them to update us about their accommodation if they are not in Home Office accommodation.
The Home Office publishes data on asylum-related returns in ‘Returns summary tables(opens in a new tab)’. The latest data is up to June 2025.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what process her Department follows after an asylum seekers’ claim has been rejected.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Asylum claims can be refused with a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) or refused without a right of appeal (certified). Those who do not exercise, or do not have, a right of appeal are expected to leave the United Kingdom voluntarily or can be subject to enforced removal. If a claim is certified without a right of appeal, there is an avenue to apply for a Judicial Review.
A claimant may introduce fresh evidence during the appeal process. Even if they exhaust the appeal process there is still an opportunity to present fresh evidence as “further submissions” to which the Home Office must give due consideration.
Once all legal barriers have been removed the claimant can be subject to enforced removal.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected were in receipt of Home Office accommodation support on 10 October 2025.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of asylum seekers in receipt of support, by support type, is published in table Asy_D11 of the ‘Asylum support detailed datasets’.
Individuals receiving Section 4 support have had their asylum claim refused but they are destitute and there are reasons that temporarily prevent them from leaving the UK. Please note that Section 95 support data includes some failed asylum seekers who had children in their household when their appeal rights were exhausted.
The latest data relates to as at 30 June 2025. Data for as at 30 September 2025 will be published on 27 November 2025. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether their Department has run any (a) recruitment and (b) internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
All Civil Service departments work within the Recruitment Principles, as regulated by the Civil Service Commission, to recruit using a fair and open process and appoint on merit.
As set out in the Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027, we are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds, to create a modern Civil Service, now and for the future.
The Home Office have run Internship schemes aimed at increasing representation of underrepresented groups within the Home Office workforce in the last year:
The Home Office also support Government Employment Programs that utilse an exception within the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. This allows departments to appoint individuals temporarily for up to two years, providing fixed-term Civil Service roles for those whose circumstances and previous life chances make it difficult to compete for appointments on merit, and on the basis of fair and open competition, without further work experience and/or training opportunities. The programs the Home Office have employed over the last 12 months are:
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with companies in the gig economy on tackling illegal working.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is working closely with food delivery platforms in the gig economy to ensure they understand their responsibilities in preventing illegal working. As a result, Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat are undertaking right to work checks on all of their workers and recently introduced enhanced checks on registered substitutes following a ministerial roundtable in June.
In September, the Home Office commenced data sharing with these food delivery firms. The Department is committed to work alongside delivery firms to deepen cooperation and this measure is another important step to tackle illegal working hotspots and root out this criminality from within communities. By sharing this data, it means the firms will have more information to track down and suspend accounts of delivery riders working illegally.