Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to cease the purchasing of non-essential items, including vapes, for illegal migrants.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not purchase vapes for people held in immigration detention, and no public money is spent on the purchase of these or any other goods sold at immigration removal centres.
Following a comprehensive review of asylum support, we have taken decisive action to block spending on non-essential goods and services on ASPEN cards and implement enhanced due diligence measures.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, of recent illegal working arrests, how many have been removed from the United Kingdom.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Details of Immigration Enforcement activity to tackle illegal employment in the UK can be found in the Home Office’s published transparency data: Illegal working and enforcement activity to the end of September 2025 - GOV.UK
Returns data can also be found in the Home Office’s published transparency data. This is not broken down by arrest location: Returns from the UK and enforcement activity - GOV.UK
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she last met the Police Federation; and when she next plans to meet the Police Federation.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home Office Ministers have regular meetings as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
As part of Government transparency information about meetings is published on a quarterly basis on gov.uk
The Police Act 1996 establishes the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) as the representative body for police officers in the federated ranks in England and Wales.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many enforcement actions have been taken against gig economy companies found to have engaged workers without the legal right to work in the United Kingdom since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold an estimate of the prevalence of illegalworking among people using app-based delivery platforms. The recent jointwork between the Office for National Statistics and the Home Office explainsthe complexities - Measuring illegal migration: our current view - Office forNational Statistics.Through the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, the Government isintroducing tough new laws to clamp down on illegal working, including in thefood delivery sector. This means that for the very first time, employmentchecks will be extended to cover businesses hiring gig economy and zero-hours workers in sectors like food delivery.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the prevalence of illegal working among people using app-based delivery platforms.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold an estimate of the prevalence of illegal working among people using app-based delivery platforms. The recent joint work between the Office for National Statistics and the Home Office explains the complexities - Measuring illegal migration: our current view - Office for National Statistics.
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.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish data on the number of (a) criminal penalties issued, (b) prosecutions undertaken and (c) successful convictions secured for illegal working since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential economic impact of organised protests on (a) the level of tourism to London and (b) businesses in London.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not made a formal assessment of the potential economic impact of organised protests on tourism or businesses in London.
We continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police Service and to ensure that lawful protest is facilitated while minimising disruption to the public and economic activity.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) identify and (b) deport foreign nationals residing in the UK who have committed identity fraud.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office performs mandatory identity verification and security checks on individuals applying to enter or remain in the UK and those applying for British citizenship. These checks are set out in comprehensive, internal guidance called the UK Visas and Immigration Operating Mandate (OM). To protect the integrity of the specific identity and security checking processes that are conducted under the OM, the information contained within it is not disclosed publicly.
We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.
This government has already removed 5,179 foreign national offenders in its first year in office, a 14 per cent increase on the previous twelve months, and we will continue to ensure there is no hiding place for foreign criminals in our country.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of organised protests on (a) tourism to and (b) businesses in London.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not made a formal assessment of the potential economic impact of organised protests on tourism or businesses in London. Responsibility for tourism policy rests primarily with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, while business resilience and economic analysis are led by the Department for Business and Trade.
We continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police Service and to ensure that lawful protest is facilitated while minimising disruption to the public and economic activity.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has met the Police Federation since her appointment.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home Office Ministers have regular meetings as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
As part of Government transparency information about meetings is published on a quarterly basis on gov.uk
The Police Act 1996 establishes the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) as the representative body for police officers in the federated ranks in England and Wales.