Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of rescheduling psylocibin to allow for research into its potential merits in the treatment of mental health issues.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Psilocybin is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (‘the 1971 Act’) and placed in Schedule 1 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (‘the 2001 Regulations’). Drugs are typically placed in Schedule 1 when there is no established medical use in the UK. Drugs that have an established medical use are typically placed in another schedule to enable prescribing.
The Government recognises that studies into the potential use of psilocybin as part of the treatment for mental health conditions have been or are being conducted in the UK. However, medicines based on psilocybin have to date not been assessed on the basis of their safety, quality and efficacy and granted a marketing authorisation by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA).
The MHRA supports the safe and scientifically sound conduct of trials in this area and provides regulatory and scientific advice to companies at all stages of developing medicines. Should a company apply for a marketing authorisation (a product licence), it will ultimately be a decision for the MHRA whether to license a psilocybin-based medicine as a therapy. Reconsideration of scheduling under the 1971 Act would ordinarily follow such an assessment by the MHRA.
Research into Schedule 1 drugs, including psilocybin, proceeds in the UK under Home Office licence. On 16 July, the Government responded to recommendations from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) on how best to reduce barriers to research with Schedule 1 drugs. The Government intends to trial an approach whereby a domestic controlled drug licence is not required in universities, university colleges and hospitals, nor for clinical studies with relevant approval from the Health Research Authority or MHRA. These measures will support the Government’s aim of facilitating access to Schedule 1 controlled drugs for legitimate research into potential uses in healthcare, while minimising the risk of harm, diversion and misuse.
Ministers are under a duty to consider advice from the ACMD prior to making regulations under the Misuse of the 1971 Act, for example if the Government were minded to reschedule a drug to enable it to be prescribed. The Government has no current plans to commission the ACMD to assess the scheduling of psilocybin.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the (a) number and (b) differing typologies of incidents of transnational repression in the last five years.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This Government is committed to addressing foreign state directed threats, including those actions which amount to transnational repression (TNR). We continually assess potential threats in the UK, and a key focus of the Defending Democracy Taskforce’s Review of transnational repression was to understand the scale and nature of TNR in the UK. I set out the findings of the Review and Government’s response in my statement to the House on 14 May.
This Government works closely with law enforcement and other partners to continue to strengthen our understanding of reporting trends and methodologies of TNR to ensure sufficient safeguards and mitigations are in place to prevent, detect and counter the threat. Attempts by any foreign state to intimidate, harass or harm individuals in the UK will never be tolerated, irrespective of the perpetrating country.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff have worked on foreign bribery in the National Crime Agency's International Corruption Unit in each of the last three years.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Due to operational implications the NCA do not disclose the number of staff working in the ICU.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what staff attrition rate was in the National Crime Agency's International Corruption Unit in each of the the past three years.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Due to operational implications the NCA do not disclose the number of staff working in the ICU.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to issue guidance to (a) refugees and (b) BN(O) visa holders in the United Kingdom on the potential impact of its White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published 12 May 2025, on the pathways to (i) citizenship and (ii) indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The White Paper commits to a review of our existing refugee sponsorship and resettlement schemes. Further information on the reviews will be provided in due course.
The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in future.
Further details of all measures announced in the Immigration White Paper will be set out in the normal way in due course. Where necessary, measures will be subject to consultation.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
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 its White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025, on Ukrainian refugees seeking indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Honourable Member to my answer given on 21 May to PQ UIN 51999.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure Crown Dependencies introduce public registers of beneficial ownership.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Tackling illicit finance in the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, as well as the UK, is a priority for the UK Government. Publicly accessible beneficial ownership registers are a critical tool for tackling illicit finance. Access to accurate information on who ultimately controls a company is also vital for the enforcement of sanctions and for combating kleptocracy, tax evasion and corruption.
The Crown Dependencies are separate, self-governing jurisdictions responsible for their own domestic affairs, including financial services regulation. The Home Office continues to work closely with the Crown Dependencies on this agenda and welcomes their commitments for greater corporate transparency. The Crown Dependencies have committed to increase the transparency of their beneficial ownership registers and are working towards implementing access to those with legitimate interest, including media and civil society. I have written to the Crown Dependencies requesting that legitimate interest access should be delivered to a clear and reasonable timetable, with the maximum degree of access and transparency.
The UK Government is committed to tackling illicit finance and expects implementing legitimate interest access is an interim step to publicly accessible beneficial ownership registers and I look forward to meeting with the Crown Dependencies to discuss this agenda.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to ensure UK law enforcement authorities use criminal measures against professional enablers of economic crime who have exploited Crown Dependencies.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Professional enablers are a critical facilitator of serious and organised crime.
As part of the Economic Crime Plan 2, the National Economic Crime Centre launched a cross-system strategy to tackle the threat posed by professional enablers to the UK earlier this year.
This sets out a series of actions for the public and private sectors including commitments to enhance collective understanding, improve information sharing, make better use of powers and intervention tools, and develop joint disruption strategies to tackle the threat. One of the key objectives is for law enforcement and supervisory bodies to deliver impactful disruptions and use the full range of intervention opportunities, including criminal justice outcomes, to achieve this. We expect the strategy to start delivering results in 2025.
The Crown Dependencies are separate, self-governing jurisdictions responsible for their own domestic affairs and whose law enforcement agencies are responsible for tackling criminality that occurs in their jurisdictions. The Home Office works closely with the Crown Dependencies to strengthen their transparency requirements to reduce the threat of professional enablers and companies laundering money in the Crown Dependencies.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Crown Dependencies are not used to launder the proceeds of corruption.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Crown Dependencies are separate, self-governing jurisdictions responsible for their own domestic affairs, including financial services regulation. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for managing the UK’s constitutional relationship with the Crown Dependencies but all UK Government departments are responsible for their respective policy areas towards the Crown Dependencies and engage directly with them. The Home Office leads on illicit finance liaison with the Crown Dependencies for the UK Government.
Corruption and illicit finance threaten global security, harm democracy, hamper economic growth and prosperity, slow development, and harm victims. The UK Government is committed to working together with international financial centres, including the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories, to help tackle corruption and money laundering.
The Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey including Alderney, and the Isle of Man) have company beneficial ownership registers and they share data from these with UK law enforcement via the Exchange of Notes arrangements.
Publicly accessible company beneficial ownership registers are a critical tool for tackling illicit finance, making it more challenging for illicit actors to hide funds and launder the proceeds of corruption. The Home Office continues to work with the Crown Dependencies to help improve their beneficial ownership transparency and welcomes the commitments the Crown Dependencies have made for greater corporate transparency; the Crown Dependencies are working towards implementing legitimate interest access to their registers, including access for media and civil society.
However, this Government is committed to tackling illicit finance and expects this to be an interim step to public registers. I look forward to meeting with the Crown Dependencies in 2025 to discuss this ongoing agenda.