Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of police time is spent on possession offences compared with tackling organised drug crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Police Activity Survey (PAS) provides an estimate of how much police time is spent on various policing activities. The PAS was conducted over a 7-day period in February 2023, with 35 out of the 43 police forces in England and Wales participating.
The results show that over this period, responding to specific crime incident activity accounts for 34.9% of all recorded police time. Of the time spent on specific crime incident activity, 3.1% was spent on possession of drug crime incidents, 2.7% on possession of weapons incidents and 5.6% on trafficking of drug incidents.
The PAS does not capture whether or not the offences were organised crime related. Therefore, no specific data is available on the proportion of time spent on tackling organised drug crime.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the government’s proposed Earned Settlement reforms on disabled partner visa applicants and primary carers, including the proposed personal earnings requirement; what steps her Department is taking to ensure that such reforms do not indirectly discriminate against those with protected characteristics; and what transitional arrangements will apply to families already on the partner route to prevent retrospective disadvantage.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, announced changes to the mandatory requirements and qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain. It is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026.
The consultation seeks views on the impact proposed changes might have on different groups, including disabled people and carers. Details of the earned settlement model 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: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of employers not providing the work guaranteed under a visa sponsorship agreement on migrant care workers; what steps her Department is taking to ensure that such workers are not disadvantaged as a result of sponsor non-compliance; and how any changes to settlement requirements, including the qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain, will take account of individuals who have been unable to work or accrue National Insurance contributions due to circumstances beyond their control.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government is acutely aware of the levels of sponsor non-compliance in the care sector and this includes failing to provide adequate paid work. In response, we have revoked the licenses of more than 1000 care providers who are now no longer able to sponsor migrant workers.
The Home Office continues to work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) funded Regional Partnerships to support care workers, who have been impacted by exploitative employers. DHSC are funding 15 regional hubs in England, made up of Local Authorities and Directors of Adult Social Services, working together to support displaced workers into new roles within the care sector. These regional hubs have received £12.5 million this financial year to support them to prevent and respond to unethical practices in the sector.
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, announced changes to the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain. It also set out mandatory requirements for settlement, including a minimum level of National Insurance contributions. A public consultation was launched on 20 November 2025 and is open until 12 February 2026. The final model will also be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the National Crime Agency is taking to investigate organised financial crime networks coordinating fraud schemes involving overseas equities and UK-based victims; and whether she is making additional enforcement resources available to support those investigations.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The National Crime Agency (NCA) continuously assesses the origin of organised financial networks targeting UK based victims from overseas and does so through in-depth analysis of intelligence from across the public and private sectors.
This analysis enables the identification of key jurisdictions of risk which in-turn determines the prioritisation of resources and enrichment of partnerships with international law enforcement, the latter being afforded by the NCA’s niche capability of an international network comprising officers deployed in 50 countries worldwide.
Through these relationships, the NCA seek to disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups using various tools including protracted joint investigations, capacity building and information sharing. Efforts this year, have resulted in a significant uplift on executive action being undertaken in source countries which have specifically targeted UK victims through high-harm fraud threats types.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of implementing a (a) resettlement and (b) reunification scheme for citizens of Lebanon with family connections to the UK.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are deeply concerned by the rising tensions and civilian casualties in Lebanon.
Lebanese nationals who wish to come to the UK can do so via the existing range of routes available.
Any application for a UK visa will be assessed against the requirements of the Immigration Rules. Immediate family members of British citizens and those settled in the UK who wish to come and live in the UK can apply under one of the existing family visa routes.
There are also routes available for dependants of those who are in the UK on a work or student route.
Individuals with protection status or settlement on a protection route may sponsor their partner or child (under 18), to join or stay with them in the UK, providing they formed part of the pre-flight family unit before the sponsor fled their country to seek protection.
We are monitoring the situation in Lebanon closely and keeping all existing pathways under constant review.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has had with Mitre on the potential merits of employing instructors to train staff on how to direct asylum-seekers on to planes for Rwanda in Bedfordshire.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Since 2015, the Government has had training facilities to ensure escorts can respond professionally to the challenges of removing people with no right to be in the UK. This includes practical sessions, so escorts have the skills they need to deal with different scenarios.
As we continue to remove those with no legal right to be here, we will continue to ensure new escorts have the required high quality training and facilities as necessary.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase the speed at which asylum applications are processed for people from Sudan.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are carefully monitoring the situation in Sudan.
We are taking immediate action to clear the backlog of 92,601 initial asylum decisions relating to claims made before 28 June 2022 (“legacy claims”) by the end of 2023.
We are increasing the number of caseworkers to 2,500 by September 2023, streamlining interviews where one is required and simplifying guidance.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make a comparative assessment of the potential merits of providing (a) single-year and (b) multi-year financial settlements for police forces.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Spending Review 2021 provided certainty on budgets for all forces across England and Wales, with total funding increases confirmed for 3 years. In June 2022, the government also provided additional funding of £350m over 3 years to support forces in meeting the costs of the 2022 pay award. This has enabled forces to plan ahead and ensure they are delivering efficiency savings to generate the best value for money for the tax payer.
On 31 January, the Government confirmed a total police funding settlement of up to £17.2 billion in 2023/24, an increase of up to £287 million when compared to 2022/23. This settlement honours the commitments made at Spending Review 2021, giving forces the certainty to plan, complete and maintain their work to recruit additional officers through the Police Uplift Programme.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help improve Government relations with police forces.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government welcomes open and honest engagement with policing partners and Ministers meet regularly with senior policing leaders and staff associations on a range of matters.
We are continuing to invest in policing and are recruiting 20,000 additional officers to ensure policing has the resources it needs to fight crime. By March 2023, we will have the highest number of officers on record.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of authorised work hours for student visas.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Student route is for international students who wish to study in the UK and is not designed as a means to live and work in the UK.
Student visa holders who are studying a full-time course of study, at degree level or above, at a higher education provider with a track record of compliance are already able to work up to 20 hours per week during term-time and full-time during vacation periods.