Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with police forces on ensuring consistent implementation of the Retail Crime Action Plan (a) across all police forces and (b) in Mid Leicestershire constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government is supporting a new strategy, Tackling Retail Crime Together, published by policing, retail sector representatives and industry as part of collective efforts to combat shop theft.
The strategy builds on previous progress made by police and retailers via the Retail Crime Action Plan but provides a more comprehensive and intelligence-led approach to tackle all perpetrators of shop theft – not just organised criminal gangs.
We are investing £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other to prevent and combat crime.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's guidance entitled Firearms licensing: statutory guidance for chief officers of police, updated on 5 August 2025, what assessment she has made with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of the potential impact of the requirement to undertake a medical assessment every six months on the (a) financial cost and (b) bureaucratic burden to people when renewing a firearms license.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Statutory Guidance does not require medical assessments for firearms certificate holders every six months. When applying for a certificate, or making a renewal every five years, an applicant is required to supply a medical report from their GP or another doctor. Subsequently, certificate holders must advise the police if they are diagnosed with, or treated for, a relevant medical condition.
In addition, and as part of the medical arrangements for firearms licensing, GPs are asked to place a marker on the medical records of those who hold a firearms certificate. This marker prompts the GP to alert the police if the certificate holder is diagnosed with a relevant medical condition at any time during the validity the certificate.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information she holds on the (a) ethnic background and (b) religious belief of civil servants in her Department in (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24 and (iii) 2024-25.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on ethnic background and religious belief of Civil Servants in the Home Office is published in both the Departments annual workforce diversity statistics and Civil Service statistics based on the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ASCES). The data for 24-25 will be published soon in Civil Service statistics and the Home Office annual diversity publication for 24-25 will be released in Q1 2026.
Home Office workforce diversity statistics - GOV.UK
Civil Service statistics - GOV.UK
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to prevent criminals in India from scamming UK citizens.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
With over 70% of fraud estimated to have an overseas element, international collaboration is a vital part of the Government’s work to protect UK citizens from that threat.
The UK is driving global action on tackling fraud, working with individual countries as well as multilateral bodies to develop an expanded programme of upstream international work to stop fraud before it reaches our shores.
In October 2024, the first ever UN Resolution on Fraud was passed at the 12th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. This marked a significant advancement in the global fight against fraud and the UK played a leading role in supporting these efforts. The UK is also supporting the next Global Fraud Summit (after the first in London in 2024), at the UN in Vienna, to further raise fraud as a priority in Member States.
We will build on this progress through the new Fraud Strategy, where a key priority will be expanding our international work to tackle fraud at source.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many permanent civil servants in her Department had their contract of employment terminated as a result of poor performance in the (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25 financial years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2024-25, 24 Home Office employees were dismissed for poor performance.
Prior to April 2024 dismissals for poor performance were included for data collection purposes in a broader category of efficiency dismissals, so figures for poor performance dismissals are not available prior to that date.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of disapplying the Human Rights Act on the removal of foreign national offenders from British prisons.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced new measures on a wide range of issues, including the removal of foreign national offenders, further details of which will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which hotels are being used to house asylum seekers in Mid Leicestershire constituency; and how many asylum seekers there are in each hotel.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the Hon Member to the Answer he received on the 14 January 2025 to UIN 22515.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to deport people who have been living in the UK illegally for more than five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This government pledged to deliver the highest rate of removals since 2018 and this has been surpassed, with a surge in returns activity leading to over 24,000 people with no right to be in the UK being removed in the first nine months after the election.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether they have made an estimate of the potential impact of abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion roles in their Department on annual staffing costs.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such estimate has been made, but I would refer the Hon Member to the Cabinet Office guidance on the Civil Service Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Expenditure, published under the previous government in May 2024, which states:
Internal Efficiency Measures
18. Internal measures are important to promote efficient and effective EDI practice, which aligns to Government priorities. To ensure EDI spend in the Civil Service is commensurate with agreed organisational priorities the following measures must be considered:
c. Incorporate standalone EDI staffing roles into broader HR: The responsibility for EDI delivery should be embedded into HR professionals’ broader accountabilities. The CS D&I Strategy frames an approach where diversity and inclusion is not an end in itself, but an integral means of delivering better outcomes for our citizens. To deliver this, and move away from tokenistic, albeit well-intentioned actions, to produce truly transformative delivery our HR professionals are required to take ownership of EDI and focus the approach against the key areas of an employee lifecycle that make the biggest impact for all our people: recruitment, talent management, learning & development, leadership, culture and tackling bullying harassment and discrimination when it occurs.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 abolishing non-departmental public bodies on (a) her Department's costs and (b) democratic accountability.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We keep all bodies sponsored and funded by the Home Office under review, to ensure they are delivering public outcomes efficiently and effectively.