Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the (a) cultural and (b) religious backgrounds of grooming gang offenders.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Earlier this year, the Home Secretary commissioned Baroness Louise Casey to undertake a national audit into the nature, scale and characteristics of this type of offending, including considering the cultural and societal drivers for this offending. I will ensure the Hon Member receives a copy of Baroness Casey's report when it is published in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help end the use of (a) vape shops, (b) barbers and (c) other high street businesses by organised crime groups.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are a range of powers available to deal with criminal use and exploitation of high street properties. Authorities can use closure powers under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to close quickly premises which are being used, or are likely to be used, to commit nuisance or disorder. Courts may in turn grant a Closure Order where a person has engaged in criminal behaviour on the premises. This power is designed specifically to protect victims and communities by enabling swift action where premises are creating harm.
Law enforcement agencies are taking robust action to deal with criminal use of high street properties wherever they see it. For example, in March the National Economic Crime Centre, part of the National Crime Agency, coordinated Operation Machinize, a three-week crackdown against cash-intensive businesses linked to serious and organised crime across England and Wales.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people who arrived in the UK illegally were granted leave to remain in the last 12 months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes statistics on detected irregular arrivals to the UK in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on outcomes of asylum claims from small boat arrivals is published by arrival date in table Irr_D03 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’, and by initial decision date in table Asy_02c of the ‘asylum summary tables’, with the latest data up to the end of March 2025. Data on asylum outcomes for people who arrived irregularly by other routes is not published.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to (a) bring forward legislative proposals and (b) strengthen enforcement on fast food delivery companies to ensure they are not employing illegal immigrants.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Yes.
Through the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, the Government is introducing tough new laws to clamp down on illegal working, including in the food delivery sector. This means that for the very first time, employment checks will be extended to cover businesses hiring gig economy and zero-hours workers in sectors like food delivery.
The Government is also already working closely with all major food delivery platforms to ensure they understand their responsibilities in terms of preventing illegal working. As a result, Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat are now undertaking employment checks on all of their workers, including registered substitutes.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of deportation orders issued to foreign criminals in the last five years have been enforced.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government pledged to deliver the highest rate of removals since 2018 and this has been surpassed, with a surge in returns activity since the election leading to almost 30,000 people with no right to be in the UK being removed.
Of the total returns since 5 July 2024, 4,436 were of FNOs. This is an increase of 14% compared to the 3,879 FNO returns in the same period 12 months prior (FNO returns include both enforced and voluntary returns).
Work is currently underway to publish more detailed information on FNOs subject to deportation. Further information on this work can be found at: Statistics on foreign national offenders and the immigration system - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many illegal immigrants have been granted asylum after being convicted of a criminal offence in the UK in the last 12 months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
This information is not held in a reportable format and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it would require a manual trawl of case records to retrieve.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 April 2025 to Question 44030 on Prisoners: Repatriation, whether (a) her Department and (b) HM Prisons and Probation Service have targets for the efficiency of the Early Removal Scheme process.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Between 5 July 2024 and 22 March 2025, there were 1,848 Early Removal Scheme (ERS) returns, which is a 15% increase compared to 1,610 in the same period 12 months prior.
As part of the government’s Plan for Change and mission to create safer streets, we are building on the existing co-operation between the Home Office and HMPPS (HM Prisons and Probation Service) with a £5 million government investment in prisons across England and Wales which will assist in speeding up returns under the ERS.
This money will fund the deployment of specialist frontline staff to 80 jails to speed up the removal of prisoners who have no right to be in this country.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has a target for the removal of foreign national offenders from prisons.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
HMPPS (HM Prisons and Probation Service) are working closely with the Home Office to ensure the Early Removal Scheme process runs as efficiently as possible by driving up foreign national offender (FNO) returns directly from prison.
Between 5 July 2024 and 22 March 2025, there have been 1,848 ERS returns, which is a 15% increase compared to 1,610 in the same period 12 months prior.
The ERS remains the most effective mechanism for removing eligible FNOs as quickly as possible, freeing up prison beds and saving money.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons will the renaming of civil injunctions as housing injunctions help housing associations tackle anti-social behaviour.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
We will crack down on those making neighbourhoods feel unsafe and unwelcoming by bringing forward new Respect Orders, which will carry tough sanctions and penalties for persistent adult offenders. These were introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill on 25 February.
The Respect Order partially replaces the existing Civil Injunction power for the most persistent and serious adult ASB offenders, carrying with it a power of arrest and sentencing in the criminal courts for breach. It is a broad power for use in situations where behaviour had caused or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
Practitioners who use the Civil Injunction for housing-related ASB have told us the power works well for those purposes. The element of the Civil Injunction that pertains to housing related ASB will therefore be retained, and re-named the 'housing injunction' for clarity, to distinguish it from the Respect Order and the Youth Injunction. The legal test for this is behaviour causing, or capable of causing, housing-related nuisance or annoyance. If agencies consider that ASB committed in the context of neighbour disputes meets the legal test for a Respect Order (behaviour causing harassment, alarm or distress), they may determine a Respect Order is the most appropriate option instead.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle car theft in Broxbourne constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is determined to drive down vehicle crime and we are working with the automotive industry and police to ensure our response is as strong as it can be. I met the NPCC Vehicle Crime lead, ACC Jenny Sims, recently and discussed this matter.
We work closely with policing and industry, via the recently formed National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership and the National Vehicle Crime Working Group. Through the working group a network of vehicle crime specialists has been established, involving every police force in England and Wales, to ensure forces can share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and better tackle regional issues.
We are also providing £250,000 funding this financial year to help support enforcement at ports to prevent stolen vehicles and vehicle parts being shipped abroad, including additional staff and specialist equipment.
PRC data shows there was a total of 375,048 vehicle related thefts in year ending September 2024. 188,517 of these offences were theft from a vehicle and 127,874 were theft of a motor vehicle. In the latest year, the CSEW estimates that vehicle related theft has remained relatively stable with a 1% increase against the previous year. The Home Office does not collect data at the parliamentary constituency level.