Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's document entitled A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: statement and accompanying consultation on earned settlement, updated on 28 November 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of a retrospective application of the proposed changes to settlement rules on people currently on a five-year settlement pathway, including on lower income households and groups with protected characteristics.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026.
The consultation seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement. Transitional arrangements refer to temporary measures or rules put in place to manage the shift from one system, or policy framework, to another. Details of the earned settlement model, including any transitional arrangements for those already in the UK, will be finalised following that consultation.
The final model will also be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of neighbourhood police officers in Eastleigh.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Every community deserves visible, pro-active and accessible neighbourhood policing with officers tackling the issues that matter to them. That is why £200 million has been made available in 2025/26 to support the first steps towards delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel by the end of this Parliament. Of the £200 million available, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary were allocated £5,187,776 with a projected growth of 65 FTE neighbourhood police officers in 2025/26.
Published management information shows as at 30 September 2025, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary have grown by 99 FTE neighbourhood policing officers since March 2025. It is important that forces continue to boost visible policing and ensure the workforce is shaped to meet modern crime demands.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of legislative reform for victims of (a) domestic and (b) economic abuse to exit joint mortgages safely and promptly; and what discussions she has had with the (i) Chancellor of the Exchequer and (ii) Financial Conduct Authority on the introduction of guidance for the financial industry on this matter.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government recognises the devastating impact economic abuse can have on victims. ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’, published on 18 December 2025, outlined a package of commitments to tackle economic abuse. This included a commitment from His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) to work with key stakeholders, including industry and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to explore how joint mortgages are used as a tool of abuse and how victims and survivors can be better supported. This commitment was also included in HMT’s recent Financial Inclusion Strategy.
The Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls met with the Economic Secretary to the Treasury as both strategies were developed, and remains committed to working closely with her HMT counterparts as they deliver on this agenda.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure standardised training for police in reviewing Operation Snap submissions involving horses; and what assessment she has made of the consistency with which police forces handle video evidence of dangerous passes involving horses.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government takes road safety extremely seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.
Police enforcements of motoring offences are operational matters for Chief Officers, who decide how to deploy available resources to deal with all the issues for which the force is responsible, taking into account specific local problems and demands.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) released national guidance on the minimum standards for police handling of dashcam footage submitted by members of the public in June 2021.
The guidance makes clear that trained police staff should assess camera footage submitted under Operation Snap and if the footage demonstrates an offence is committed, the local force determine the appropriate action to take.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to enhance the accessibility of reporting mechanisms for fraud and cyber crime.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
A new and improved national police reporting service for fraud and cyber crime called Report Fraud went live on 4 December 2025, replacing the previous Action Fraud service. The new service will ensure that victims of fraud have the confidence and trust to come forward, report instances of fraud, and know that their case will be dealt with properly.
Report Fraud will speed up the time it takes to report, inform victims about what has happened or is happening with their report and significantly improve the speed and quality of information provided to law enforcement partners, boosting their chances of successful prosecutions.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness in meeting the 8-week processing deadline for applications under the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
UKVI are currently assessing Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme (UPE) visas within the published processing times. Information on visa processing times can be found at Visa processing times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will confirm funding for perpetrator intervention services for the next financial year.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable and this Government is treating it as the national emergency that it is.
We have committed to several measures in the recently published Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy that aim to disrupt perpetrators in the community and reduce revictimisation. We will:
This landmark investment into disrupting the behaviour of perpetrators is about shifting the way we combat domestic abuse, putting the responsibility for ending abuse on those who cause it.
We have confirmed continuation of funding of the current Domestic Abuse and Stalking Perpetrator Intervention Fund for a period of six months from April 2026 to provide continuity ahead of anticipated competitions.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is monitoring the (a) importation and (b) online sale of imitation firearms; and whether she plans to make an assessment of whether the online sale of imitation firearms contravene (i) product safety and (ii) trading standards legislation.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government works closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) to address any potential risks to public safety posed by the sale and possession of imitation firearms. The Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 makes it an offence to manufacture, import or sell a realistic imitation firearm. It is also a requirement that imitation firearms are safe for their intended and foreseeable use before they are placed on the market.
The Government, the National Crime Agency and the NPCC, together with Border Force, have taken, and continue to take, action to prevent the import and sale, including online sales, of certain types of blank firing firearms, which are viewed as readily convertible, to prevent these getting into the hands of criminals. Such imitation firearms are contrary to existing legislation, and to remove these particular types of imitation firearms from circulation, a four-week amnesty was run by the NPCC in February this year saw around 3,000 such firearms being handed in to police forces, and further action is being planned to remove further makes of blank firing imitation firearms from circulation as they have been found to be readily convertible.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the online sale of imitation firearms.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government works closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) to address any potential risks to public safety posed by the sale and possession of imitation firearms. The Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 makes it an offence to manufacture, import or sell a realistic imitation firearm. It is also a requirement that imitation firearms are safe for their intended and foreseeable use before they are placed on the market.
The Government, the National Crime Agency and the NPCC, together with Border Force, have taken, and continue to take, action to prevent the import and sale, including online sales, of certain types of blank firing firearms, which are viewed as readily convertible, to prevent these getting into the hands of criminals. Such imitation firearms are contrary to existing legislation, and to remove these particular types of imitation firearms from circulation, a four-week amnesty was run by the NPCC in February this year saw around 3,000 such firearms being handed in to police forces, and further action is being planned to remove further makes of blank firing imitation firearms from circulation as they have been found to be readily convertible.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Youth Endowment Fund in reducing (a) youth violence and (b) knife crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) plays a central role in evaluating and supporting interventions aimed at reducing youth violence and knife crime. This is critical to us properly understanding the challenges of youth violence and knife crime and how to most effectively address them.
The Home Office periodically reviews the YEF’s activities and assesses the impact of projects funded by the YEF and the reach of resources developed by the fund such as the YEF Toolkit.
The YEF has generally made good progress in these key areas over the period of the Grant. More widely, the YEF provides essential support across seven sectors including education, children’s services, and youth justice to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence.
The Home Office will continue to work with the YEF on reducing the impact of youth violence and knife crime, including through our commitment to halve knife crime in a decade.