Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the contribution of the Minister for Policing and Crime during the Third Delegated Legislation Committee on 17 December 2025, when she plans to send a command paper to the Home Affairs Select Committee on the use of public order legislation.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government has committed to undertake post legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023. This process began in May.
When complete, we will send the command paper to the Home Affairs Select Committee as is routine and in line with the guidance on completing post legislative scrutiny.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
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 the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 is enforced proportionally across venues of varying capacity.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 is implemented in a proportionate and practicable way.
An implementation period of at least 24 months is now underway, giving those responsible for premises and events sufficient time and support to meet their new obligations. It will also allow time for the Security Industry Authority (SIA) to establish its new regulatory function.
The public deserve to feel safe when visiting premises and attending events and it is right that people responsible for certain premises and events should take appropriate, reasonably practicable steps to protect the public and those working at the venues from the harmful impacts and effects of terrorism.
The Act establishes a tiered approach, with those responsible for premises and events in scope required to fulfil different requirements according to the number of individuals it is reasonable to expect may be present.
Whether the Act applies to a particular premises or events will depend on several factors. Premises may be in scope if they consist of at least one building, are wholly or mainly used for one or more of the uses specified in Schedule 1, and 200 or more people can reasonably be expected to be present at the premises at the same time.
Where it can be reasonably expected that between 200 and 799 people will be present at the premises at the same time, it will be a ‘standard tier’ premises. Should the premises reasonably expect 800 or more people to be present at the premises at the same time, it will be an ‘enhanced tier’ premises.
Events may be in scope, and will be in the ‘enhanced tier’, if they take place in a building or on land, 800 or more people are reasonably expected to be present at the same time, and it is accessible to members of the public who have paid, have a ticket or pass, or are members or guests of a club, association or similar body.
The requirements of each tier vary accordingly, acknowledging that larger premises and events may be impacted to a greater extent by an attack and should be expected to do more.
For the standard tier, requirements are centred around simple, low-cost activities surrounding procedures, with costs relating primarily to time spent. There is no requirement to put in place physical measures in the standard tier.
Furthermore, the reasonably practicable standard of requirements allows procedures and measures to be tailored to the specific circumstances of a premises or event and the person responsible for them.
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) will act as the regulator. Whilst the SIA will have enforcement powers under the Act, the Government’s clear direction is for the regulator to provide support, advice and guidance in the first instance.
The SIA will only use formal enforcement tools where necessary to drive compliance. Such enforcement measures are an important component of compliance, as they give the SIA the necessary powers to deal with persistent or serious non-compliance.
Any subsequent sanctions will be determined based on whether the non-compliance is at a location in scope of the standard tier or the enhanced tier and will be proportionate to the individual circumstances of the premises or event.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of current counter-extremism programmes; and whether she plans to introduce further measures to tackle extremist activity and protect public safety.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This Government takes extremism seriously and we are committed to ensuring we have the required tools and powers needed to address this issue.
Efforts to counter extremism span a broad range of Government and law enforcement activity and we must persist in our efforts to challenge extremist narratives, disrupt the activity of radicalising groups, and directly tackle the causes of radicalisation.
We are progressing activity to challenge extremist narratives including working to ensure dangerous overseas hate preachers and extremists are unable to enter the UK to spread their divisive rhetoric.
The Prevent programme plays a fundamental role in protecting the public from the threat of terrorism and remains a vital tool for early intervention. Prevent is continuously improving to ensure it has the capabilities it needs to reduce terrorism risk.
In December 2024, the Government created a dedicated permanent oversight function, the Independent Prevent Commissioner, to provide continuous independent scrutiny of Prevent legislation, policy and delivery to maximise Prevent’s effectiveness.
The interim Independent Prevent Commissioner, Lord Anderson, published his ‘Lessons for Prevent’ in July 2025 identifying past failings and where further improvements are required.
The Home Office has also commissioned an independent evaluation of Channel, Prevent’s multi-agency early intervention programme, to assess whether it is effective at reducing individuals’ susceptibility to radicalisation. The evaluation is expected to report findings in 2026.
Finally, the Desistance and Disengagement Programme, which helps to manage the risk of individuals who have already been involved in terrorism or terrorism related activity, has been independently evaluated. The majority of recommendations from that evaluation have already been implemented.
As set out in its manifesto, this Government is committed to redoubling efforts to counter extremism and adapting to this evolving threat, including online, to stop people being radicalised and drawn towards hateful ideologies.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of espionage have been identified in British universities since 2015, broken down by (a) year, and (b) nationality of identified suspects.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The National Security Act 2023 provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to deter, detect, and disrupt state threats including new espionage offences. The Government is committed to transparency on the operation of these new powers and is considering a recommendation made by Jonathan Hall KC, in his first annual report as Independent Reviewer of State Threats Legislation, calling for publication of official statistics on use of state threat powers. The Government will respond formally to this recommendation in due course.
The Government supports the Higher Education sector in managing security risks through the Research Collaboration Advice Team, and the NPSA and NCSC’s Trusted Research and Secure Innovation guidance. The UK also has a comprehensive package of legislative and regulatory measures in place – including the Academic Technology Approvals Scheme, Export Controls and the National Security and Investment Act.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the current level of threat from Islamist extremists.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, provides a comprehensive framework for tackling all forms of terrorism and is kept under constant review to ensure our approach remains fit for purpose in response to emerging risks and challenges.
As outlined in the publication of the most recent iteration of CONTEST, in July 2023, the primary domestic terrorist threat comes from Islamist terrorism, which accounts for about three quarters of MI5 caseload.
The threat we see today and in the coming years is more diverse, dynamic and complex. This includes a domestic threat which is less predictable and harder to detect. This is combined with an evolving threat from Islamist terrorist groups overseas, and an operating environment where accelerating advances in technology provide both opportunity and risk to our counter-terrorism efforts.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether support for a proscribed terrorist organisation automatically qualifies for deprivation of citizenship on the understanding of being conducive to the public good.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The British Nationality Act 1981 provides the Secretary of State with the power to deprive an individual of their British citizenship where:
The Government considers that deprivation on ‘conducive grounds’ is an appropriate response to activities such as those involving:
The Home Office publishes data relating to those deprived of British Citizenship on ‘conducive to the public good’ grounds. These are published in the Government Transparency Report: Disruptive and Investigatory Powers. Reports have been published up to 2024.
The figures from the previous five years, of individuals who have been deprived of their British citizenship for this reason, are below:
Year | Number of individuals |
2021 | 8 |
2022 | 3 |
2023 | 2 |
2024 | 1 |
2025 | Not yet published |
In the interest of safeguarding national security, we do not break down these figures into sub-categories.
This report also references s66 of the Immigration Act 2014, which allows the Secretary of State to deprive a person of their British citizenship on the ground it is conducive to the public good even if it would leave them stateless. To date, this power has not been used.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of current criminal and civil remedies available to victims of intimate image abuse; and with reference to Baroness Bertin's independent report entitled Creating a Safer World – the Challenge of Regulating Online Pornography, published in February 2025, whether she has assessed the potential merits of that report's recommendations on an independent redress mechanism to support victims whose images have been shared without consent.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Work to address the circulation of non-consensual intimate image (NCII) content online is an important part of the government’s ambition to halve VAWG in a decade, and the recently published VAWG Strategy includes a commitment to explore routes to ensure that intimate images that are taken, created or shared without consent are removed online.
It is vital that victims and survivors have access to the support they need when they need it most. The Home Office provides funding to the Revenge Porn Helpline, which offers high-quality support and advice to victims of NCII abuse, engages with law enforcement and other stakeholders to improve the response to intimate image abuse, and raises awareness of the nature of NCII abuse and the harm that it can cause.
The Government committed in the VAWG Strategy to create a joint team, across the Home Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ministry of Justice and Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to address the issues detailed in Baroness Bertin’s Independent Pornography Review and rigorously examine the evidence to inform the government’s approach to pornography policy. Further details on this will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding her Department has allocated to tackling violence against women and girls since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office allocated £74 million in FY2024/2025 and £122.3 million in FY2025/2026 to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
Our investment funds a range of vital frontline support services to victims of VAWG, improving police response to VAWG and tackling the root causes of VAWG.
The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable and this Government is treating it as the national emergency that it is. The cross-government VAWG Strategy,published on 18 December 2025, sets out the strategic direction and concrete actions to prevent violence and abuse, pursue perpetrators, and support victims, and to deliver our unprecedented commitment to halve VAWG in a decade. The Strategy is backed by at least £1 billion funding across government over the spending review period.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has considered introducing a statutory requirement for annual DBS renewals for individuals engaged in regulated activity with children and vulnerable adults.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Criminal record certificates issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) have a vital role to play in reducing the risk of harm but should always be used as part of an organisation’s broader safeguarding practices and policies, including for example taking up references from previous employers.
Where an individual joins the Update Service provided by DBS, they are able to keep their certificate up to date by giving employers permission to check if anything has changed on their certificate, as long as the role is in the same workforce as the existing certificate. The Update Service allows employers to undertake instant online checking of DBS certificates. This system regularly re-checks a registered individual and if new information is found triggers a “change in status”. This means that when the employer undertakes a status check, they will be informed that new information has come to light since the DBS certificate was issued and that they should apply for a new DBS check.
The Update Service is free to use for volunteers and costs £16 a year for paid employees. Further information and details of how to subscribe can be found at https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service.
Except in some sectors like health and education, where DBS checks are mandated by the sector through statutory guidance or regulatory requirements, the use of DBS checks is at the discretion of the employer. It is the responsibility of individual sectors and organsations to decide the frequency of checks on their employees working in regulated activity.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of the safeguarding risks posed by (a) DBS certificates not automatically updating after issue and (b) the current DBS system in general.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Criminal record certificates issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) have a vital role to play in reducing the risk of harm but should always be used as part of an organisation’s broader safeguarding practices and policies, including for example taking up references from previous employers.
Where an individual joins the Update Service provided by DBS, they are able to keep their certificate up to date by giving employers permission to check if anything has changed on their certificate, as long as the role is in the same workforce as the existing certificate. The Update Service allows employers to undertake instant online checking of DBS certificates. This system regularly re-checks a registered individual and if new information is found triggers a “change in status”. This means that when the employer undertakes a status check, they will be informed that new information has come to light since the DBS certificate was issued and that they should apply for a new DBS check.
The Update Service is free to use for volunteers and costs £16 a year for paid employees. Further information and details of how to subscribe can be found at https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service.
Except in some sectors like health and education, where DBS checks are mandated by the sector through statutory guidance or regulatory requirements, the use of DBS checks is at the discretion of the employer. It is the responsibility of individual sectors and organsations to decide the frequency of checks on their employees working in regulated activity.