Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to enforce existing legislation against hare coursing.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The enforcement of existing legislation on hare coursing is an operational matter for the police. This is in line with their duties to keep the peace, protect communities and prevent the commission of offences, working within the provisions of the legal framework set by Parliament.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to prevent adult asylum seekers from impersonating children in (a) primary, (b) secondary, and (c) post-16 schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The law requires children of compulsory school age living in England, including foreign nationals, to receive a suitable full-time education.
If a school has concerns about an individual’s age and lack documentation, they should refer this to the local authority, which may conduct an assessment. Age assessment is the responsibility of local authorities and the Home Office. The local authority may liaise with the Home Office age dispute team and may also seek support from the National Age Assessment Board.
The department does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions took place between (a) ministers and (b) officials in her Department and (i) West Midlands Police and (ii) Birmingham City Council regarding (A) intelligence information received from Dutch authorities and (B) risk assessments presented to the Safety Advisory Group.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent of Government. Officials routinely engage with operational partners to support public safety and effective policing.
The Home Office does not publish operational intelligence or risk assessments produced by police forces or overseas law enforcement agencies. Doing so could compromise public safety, ongoing investigations, and relationships with international partners.
I am aware that the Honourable Member has, since tabling these questions, placed in the public domain reports by the West Midlands Police inputting into the local Safety Advisory Group, and the Netherlands Inspectorate of Justice and Security.
I also gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 1 December on this issue which is available at: 1 December 2025 - Football Policing - Oral evidence - Committees - UK Parliament
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will publish all intelligence information received by West Midlands Police from the Dutch authorities regarding the Amsterdam riots in November 2024.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent of Government. Officials routinely engage with operational partners to support public safety and effective policing.
The Home Office does not publish operational intelligence or risk assessments produced by police forces or overseas law enforcement agencies. Doing so could compromise public safety, ongoing investigations, and relationships with international partners.
I am aware that the Honourable Member has, since tabling these questions, placed in the public domain reports by the West Midlands Police inputting into the local Safety Advisory Group, and the Netherlands Inspectorate of Justice and Security.
I also gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 1 December on this issue which is available at: 1 December 2025 - Football Policing - Oral evidence - Committees - UK Parliament
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish risk assessments presented by West Midlands Police to the Safety Advisory Group on the fixture at Villa Park on 6 November 2025.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent of Government. Officials routinely engage with operational partners to support public safety and effective policing.
The Home Office does not publish operational intelligence or risk assessments produced by police forces or overseas law enforcement agencies. Doing so could compromise public safety, ongoing investigations, and relationships with international partners.
I am aware that the Honourable Member has, since tabling these questions, placed in the public domain reports by the West Midlands Police inputting into the local Safety Advisory Group, and the Netherlands Inspectorate of Justice and Security.
I also gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 1 December on this issue which is available at: 1 December 2025 - Football Policing - Oral evidence - Committees - UK Parliament
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will set out whether (a) primary, (b) secondary, and (c) post-16 schools are required to conduct immigration checks when adding new children to their admissions register.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The law requires children of compulsory school age living in England, including foreign nationals, to receive a suitable full-time education.
If a school has concerns about an individual’s age and lack documentation, they should refer this to the local authority, which may conduct an assessment. Age assessment is the responsibility of local authorities and the Home Office. The local authority may liaise with the Home Office age dispute team and may also seek support from the National Age Assessment Board.
The department does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many adult asylum seekers have been found attending (a) primary, (b) secondary, and (c) post-16 schools by local authority annually since 2015.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The law requires children of compulsory school age living in England, including foreign nationals, to receive a suitable full-time education.
If a school has concerns about an individual’s age and lack documentation, they should refer this to the local authority, which may conduct an assessment. Age assessment is the responsibility of local authorities and the Home Office. The local authority may liaise with the Home Office age dispute team and may also seek support from the National Age Assessment Board.
The department does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many child refugees have attended (a) primary, (b) secondary, and (c) post-16 schools in England since 2015, broken down by (i) local authority, and (ii) year.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The law requires children of compulsory school age living in England, including foreign nationals, to receive a suitable full-time education.
If a school has concerns about an individual’s age and lack documentation, they should refer this to the local authority, which may conduct an assessment. Age assessment is the responsibility of local authorities and the Home Office. The local authority may liaise with the Home Office age dispute team and may also seek support from the National Age Assessment Board.
The department does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what reporting mechanism is in place for (a) primary, (b) secondary, and (c) post-16 schools when they find an adult asylum seeker impersonating a child.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The law requires children of compulsory school age living in England, including foreign nationals, to receive a suitable full-time education.
If a school has concerns about an individual’s age and lack documentation, they should refer this to the local authority, which may conduct an assessment. Age assessment is the responsibility of local authorities and the Home Office. The local authority may liaise with the Home Office age dispute team and may also seek support from the National Age Assessment Board.
The department does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the viability of the ceasefire deal regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the oral statement on the Middle East made by the Foreign Secretary on 18 November.