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.
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 Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much their Department has spent on (a) advertising and (b) marketing in each of the last three years.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
A full Departmental response could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Full advertising and marketing costs for the Department are not held centrally. The majority of advertising and marketing expenditure is accounted for by advertising for the Royal Navy, Army, RAF and Ministry of Defence Police to aid recruitment.
All spending is subject to regular review to ensure it delivers value for money.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much their Department has spent on (a) advertising and (b) marketing in each of the last three years.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This information is set out in the department’s annual reports and accounts.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much their Department has spent on (a) advertising and (b) marketing in each of the last three years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has spent the following amounts in each of the last three financial years on advertising and marketing:
| FY22/23 | FY23/24 | FY24/25 |
Advertising | £1,041,149.81 | £1,546,059 | £927,082.90 |
Marketing | £331,874.93 | £343,914.01 | £336,125.07 |
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support the construction industry.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We work in partnership with the Construction Leadership Council, which I co-chair.
The Planning and Infrastructure Act will speed up and streamline delivery of new homes and infrastructure, we are investing £39 billion over ten years through the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, and our New Homes Accelerator is accelerating delivery of housing sites – speeding up building of over 100,000 homes across England in its first year.
Our 10-year Industrial Strategy recognises construction as a priority, backing faster planning and offsite manufacturing, and we are providing £625 million to tackle construction skills shortages by training up to 60,000 more workers.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much their Department has spent on (a) advertising and (b) marketing in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are unable to separate advertising and marketing spend. Total spend with our media buying agency Omnigov and TMP for the last three financial years is as follows:
22/23 | 23/24 | 24/25 |
£3,120,675 | £12,609,151 | £8,975,058 |
The Ministry of Justice advertising spend is published yearly within our Annual Report and Accounts. Attached are the reports that cover the three previous financial years.
2022/23 – Annual Report and Accounts
2023/24 – Annual Report and Accounts
2024/25 – Annual Report and Accounts
The Ministry of Justice uses advertising to support the Department in delivering its key priorities. These priorities include campaigns that ensure victims of crime are aware of, and able to access the support services available to them, as well as our recruitment campaigns that support filling our operationally critical front line roles in the Prison and Probation Service, and Magistrates roles.
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, 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 Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has had recent discussions with Royal Mail on standards of service.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers and officials have discussions with Royal Mail on a regular basis in its capacity as the universal service provider.
Last November, I met the CEOs of Royal Mail and International Distribution Services and raised concerns about Royal Mail’s performance. They reported continued targeted action to improve reliability. I will continue to raise concerns with Royal Mail if quality of service does not improve.
Ofcom, the independent regulator of postal services, sets and monitors Royal Mail’s regulated service standards and decides how to use its powers to investigate and take enforcement action should Royal Mail fail to achieve its obligations without sufficient justification.