Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 1 December (HL12185), what estimate they have made of the total annual budget of West Yorkshire Police.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
West Yorkshire Police will receive funding of up to £659.6m in 2025-26. You should note that this figure includes core Government grants and council tax precept only and does not represent the totality of the force’s budget. The Home Office does not routinely collect information on other police force revenue.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many enhanced DBS check applications for care sector roles have exceeded 60 days at the police checking stage in each of the last six months; and whether the Government plans to provide additional resources to police forces experiencing significant backlogs in DBS processing.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The DBS does not report its performance by specific job sectors. The DBS publishes its performance for Enhanced checks on a quarterly basis at DBS performance and metrics - GOV.UK. These attainments apply to applications across all employment sectors including the care sector.
The DBS works closely with all police forces to ensure checks are completed as quickly as possible. This includes funding additional staff and overtime within forces. Where possible, police forces with capacity are also helping those with a large number of outstanding cases, a process managed by the DBS.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time is for enhanced DBS checks in the care sector in each of the last twelve months; and what steps the Government is taking to reduce the time taken in the police checking stage of DBS applications.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The DBS does not report its performance by specific job sectors. The DBS publishes its performance for Enhanced checks on a quarterly basis at DBS performance and metrics - GOV.UK. These attainments apply to applications across all employment sectors including the care sector.
The DBS works closely with all police forces to ensure checks are completed as quickly as possible. This includes funding additional staff and overtime within forces. Where possible, police forces with capacity are also helping those with a large number of outstanding cases, a process managed by the DBS.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce immigration.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
In July we began implementing the first set of reforms outlined in the Immigration White Paper. These reforms represent a fundamental shift in the UK’s approach to immigration, focusing on higher skills, lower numbers and tighter controls. Our approach will end the UK’s reliance on overseas recruitment and ensure the system better supports investment in the domestic workforce.
We are now delivering on further commitments from the White Paper, with a range of changes to immigration rules laid on 14 October – focusing on tightening the system further and attracting highly skilled talent to the UK to boost the economy. The changes will come into effect over the following months.
This Government is pursuing a comprehensive plan to tackle illegal immigration, through targeted enforcement against the small boat gangs, stronger action alongside our international partners to prevent Channel crossings, increasing the removal of people with no right to be in the UK, cracking down further on illegal working, and continuing our efforts to clear the asylum backlog and end the use of hotels by the end of this Parliament.
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act received Royal Assent on 2 December 2025. The Act provides new tools, powers and offences aimed at strengthening cross-system working and enabling earlier, more far-reaching interventions against organised immigration crime and serious organised crime.
Furthermore, on 17 November, this Government published a statement entitled “Restoring Order and Control” which set out significant reforms to the UK’s asylum and illegal migration system. The statement outlined the current challenges, the Government’s objectives, and a comprehensive package of measures to restore order, control, fairness and public confidence in the system. In July we began implementing the first set of reforms outlined in the Immigration White Paper. These reforms represent a fundamental shift in the UK’s approach to immigration, focusing on higher skills, lower numbers and tighter controls. Our approach will end the UK’s reliance on overseas recruitment and ensure the system better supports investment in the domestic workforce.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals were granted entry visas to the UK under the high-potential individual route in (1) 2023–24, and (2) 2024–25.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas by visa type in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release]. Data on grants of visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the ‘detailed entry clearance visas dataset’ [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables#entry-clearance-visas-granted-outside-the-uk].
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from January 2005 up to the end of September 2025.
Figures for visa grants for the High Potential Individual route can be seen in the table below.
Quarter | Main Applicants | Dependants | Total |
2023 Q1 | 517 | 100 | 617 |
2023 Q2 | 583 | 85 | 668 |
2023 Q3 | 620 | 70 | 690 |
2023 Q4 | 493 | 76 | 569 |
2024 Q1 | 399 | 73 | 472 |
2024 Q2 | 544 | 56 | 600 |
2024 Q3 | 497 | 43 | 540 |
2024 Q4 | 357 | 31 | 388 |
2025 Q1 | 336 | 73 | 409 |
2025 Q2 | 605 | 70 | 675 |
2025 Q3 | 536 | 68 | 604 |
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the requirements for EU nationals married to UK national to apply and pay for visas to live in the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The deadline for EU, other EEA and Swiss citizens resident in the UK by the end of the transition period (11pm on 31 December 2020) to apply to the EUSS was 30 June 2021, but they can make a late application if there are reasonable grounds for the delay. That is the case regardless of whether or not they are a spouse or civil partner of a British citizen.
Where an EU national is not within scope of the EUSS, EU nationals wishing to join a British or settled partner in the UK must apply for a family visa under the Immigration Rules. The family Immigration Rules ensure those who are seeking to establish or maintain their family life in the UK are in a genuine and subsisting relationship, financially independent and able to speak English. Those applying to join a British or settled partner in the UK must pay the application fee although fee waivers are available for certain specified human rights applications.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the number of polygamous marriages recognised for limited purposes under UK immigration or family law in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
All marriages conducted within the UK must be monogamous under the Marriage Act 1949 and related legislation.
In some countries, polygamous or polyandrous marriages are permitted under the law of the country in which the marriage took place. Under the UK’s Immigration Rules only one spouse from a polygamous marriage can be granted entry or permission to stay in the UK as a partner. Additional spouses are not eligible for partner routes.
No official data is collected on the number of polygamous marriages among applicants.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to change the minimum income requirement and English language proficiency level for applicants under the BN(O) visa scheme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains steadfast in its support for members of the Hong Kong community in the UK.
There are no plans to change the requirements of the BN(O) visa route for those applying for entry clearance or permission to stay.
As set out in the public consultation A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, BN(O) visa holders will continue to be able to settle in the UK after 5 years residence, subject to meeting the mandatory requirements which include meeting level B2 in English language and having paid at least three years of National Insurance contributions.
We are seeking views on earned settlement through the public consultation and will continue to listen to the views of Hong Kongers. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following that consultation. In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the BN(O) route will continue to apply.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
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 recent changes to mandatory requirements for British Nationals (Overseas) who have not yet obtained indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains steadfast in its support for members of the Hong Kong community in the UK.
BN(O) visa holders will attract a 5-year reduction in the qualifying period for settlement, meaning they will continue to be able to settle in the UK after 5 years’ residence, subject to meeting the mandatory requirements.
The new mandatory requirements for settlement are basic requirements that we think are reasonable for people to meet if they want to settle here. However, we are seeking views on earned settlement through the public consultation A Fairer Pathway to Settlement and will continue to listen to the views of Hong Kongers. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following that consultation. An impact assessment will be developed alongside the finalised policy.
In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the BN(O) route will continue to apply.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign students have had their visas revoked because of nationality security concerns since 2015, broken down by (a) year, and (b) nationality.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.