Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Hong Kong BN(O) visa holders have settled in the UK under the bespoke immigration route since its launch; and what integration support is being provided.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Office publishes statistics relating to indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the Immigration system statistics publication. Data on the number of grants of ILR to those on the British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route, is published in table Se_D02.
To help those on the route integrate into their new communities, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) has a Welcome Programme through which BN(O)s can access support on a range of issues including employment, education, housing, and access to English language provision. In March 2025, MHCLG announced its fifth year of funding for the UK-wide Welcome Programme.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been (a) arrested and (b) charged under espionage-related offences linked to the People’s Republic of China in the last five years.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office routinely collects and publishes information on arrests and charges in the 'Police Powers and Procedures', and 'Crime Outcome' statistics respectively. However, the requested data is not published at the level of detail requested.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to (a) assess and (b) help tackle the potential risk of threats posed by the People's Republic of China on the United Kingdom's (i) national security, (ii) cyber security, (iii) economic influence and (iv) military capabilities.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have a broad suite of powers available to respond to state threats. This includes measures in the National Security Act 2023 which make the UK a harder target for those states which seek to conduct hostile acts, as well as the National Security and Investment Act 2021 which gives the government powers to scrutinise and intervene in business transactions, where necessary and proportionate, to protect national security.
We are taking a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China. We will co-operate where we can; compete where we need to; and challenge where we must, including on issues of national security.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to allow time spent under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme to count towards the five-year qualifying period for settled status.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We recognise the Ukrainian government’s desire for the future return of its citizens to Ukraine. It is important our approach respects these wishes.
This is why the temporary sanctuary Ukraine Visa Schemes do not lead to settlement in the UK. Similarly, time spent in the UK with permission granted under the Ukraine Schemes cannot be relied upon towards the continuous qualifying period for the purposes of a Long Residence application.
There are other routes available for those who wish to settle in the UK permanently, if they meet the requirements.
The Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme, which opened to applications on 4 February 2025, will provide up to an additional 18 months’ permission to stay in the UK for those with existing Ukraine Scheme permission.
UPE is a new grant of permission; it is not an extension of a person's existing permission. An automatic extension of existing permission would mean providing further unnecessary permission, even to a person who has now left the UK and is no longer in need of temporary sanctuary in the UK.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help deter Russian interference in democratic processes in the UK.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
Protecting the integrity and security of UK democratic processes from threats of foreign interference is a priority across government.
The National Security Act 2023 provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools and powers they need to deter, detect, and disrupt modern-day state threats. The Act includes the Foreign Interference Offence and the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), both of which will contribute to the toolkit available to law enforcement and the intelligence agencies to disrupt foreign interference activity, protect the British public and address the evolving threat to our national security.
The Defending Democracy Taskforce also seeks to protect the democratic integrity of the UK from threats of foreign influence. The Taskforce works across government and with Parliament, the UK’s intelligence community, the devolved administrations, local authorities, the private sector, and civil society on the full range of threats facing our democratic institutions.
In recent years, the UK has taken several measures to clamp down on the malign activities of the Russian State and its intelligence services, which have been supported across Parliament. These include the expulsion of 24 Russian intelligence officers from the Russian Embassy; the sanctioning of individuals responsible for malign activity against the UK and our allies; and exposing Russia’s malicious cyber activity.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that police resources for tackling knife crime at a local level are used effectively.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government has set out an unprecedented mission to halve knife crime over the next decade.
As part of the £1 billion increase for policing in 2025-6 set out by the Home Secretary at the provisional police funding settlement, the Home Office is providing £49.7m for the continuation of the Violence Reduction Unit programme in 20 areas across England and Wales.
VRUs are delivering a whole system approach to tackling violence, including knife crime, bringing key local partners together to understand the local drivers of violence, and agree and deliver a coordinated response, including delivery of early intervention and prevention programmes aimed at diverting young people from involvement in crime and violence.
We will continue to build on, and learn from, this work during the development of our new Young Futures Programme
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the levels of Iranian-based activity in the UK.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government does not routinely comment on the detail of operational matters or specific threats. But the UK will always stand up to threats from foreign states and this Government will always treat threats to the UK with the upmost seriousness.
In concert with partners, the UK Government will continue to use all tools at our disposal to protect the UK and its overseas interests against any threats from the Iranian state.