Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of domestic workers who renew their visas each year.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all policies and immigration routes under review. Ministers regularly meet with internal and external stakeholders, to discuss a wide range of issues, including the Overseas Domestic Worker route.
The Overseas Domestic Worker visa only grants permission for up to six months and cannot be extended. The Home Office publishes statistics relating to individuals who extend their stay here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables. The number of people extending their stay on the Domestic Worker in a Private Household visa is available from Table Exe_D01 of the Extension data tables (listed as “Overseas Domestic Worker”).
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle the use of strip search powers against children.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Stop and search is a vital tool for tackling crime, but it must be exercised fairly and lawfully. Using ethnicity as a factor in deciding whether to stop and search someone, except where pursuing a specific description, is unlawful. Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, referencing the Equality Act 2010, prohibits stops based on physical appearance. Supervision of officers and their use of stop and search powers rests with chief constables.
The Government supports the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Police Race Action Plan, which promotes an anti-racist culture and commits chief constables to address disproportionality, ensuring decisions are based on evidence, not ethnicity. On stop and search in particular, the plan commits that chief constables will identify and address disproportionality in the use of stop and search, particularly in relation to searches of children.
Police performance is assessed by HMICFRS, which reviews stop and search as part of its inspection framework. Where misconduct is identified, the Independent Office for Police Conduct can impose sanctions, ensuring poor performance is addressed.
Stop and search disproportionately impacts particular ethnic groups, disparity rates have fallen recently. Last year, Black people were 3.8 times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people, 9.7 times in 2018/19. Data is key to tackling disparities, and the Home Office continues to work with forces to improve the collection and accuracy of ethnicity data. I am also aware that stop and search has the potential to impact young people, their families and educational attainment. We continue to monitor research on police powers to inform policy development.
Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police, and the Government is clear that such searches must only be conducted when absolutely necessary. While there will be circumstances in which such searches are required in order to protect people, prevent harm, or secure evidence, this must be done with full regard for the dignity and welfare of the individual involved, particularly where the individual is a child.
As set out in the Government’s Manifesto, we are committed to introducing new legal safeguards around the strip search of children. We are working closely with policing stakeholders to deliver this commitment.
The Government recognises the importance of transparency in ensuring that police powers, particularly those involving children, are properly used and subject to effective public scrutiny. Data on strip search is published by the Home Office on an annual basis. The latest data can be found here:
Police custody and pre-charge bail, year ending March 2024 - GOV.UK
Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UK
We keep this under regular review.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that Schengen Area Passport Validity requirements are clearly and effectively communicated by (a) airlines and (b) travel operators.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The EU will be liaising with airlines flying to the Schengen zone on the publication/notification of any requirements.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the approval rate percentage of shotgun licence renewals within the target timeframe for Cambridgeshire Constabulary compared to the national average.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The issuing of firearms certificates, resourcing of firearms licensing teams and the efficiency of police forces, including the timeframe taken for processing shotgun licence renewals, is a matter for individual Chief Officers of Police and Police and Crime Commissioners. Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire Constabulary work together on firearms licensing as part of a tripartite arrangement between the forces and report to each of the relevant Chief Officers.
The Home Office does not routinely collect data on the percentage of shotgun licence renewal applications that are approved within the target time of four months for each police force.
However, the National Policing Chiefs Council (NPCC) lead for Firearms Licensing now publishes quarterly performance data for firearms licensing in all police forces in England and Wales. The data is published on the NPCC website at firearms-licensing-2526-q2-headlines.pdf and includes a combined percentage figure for the number of applications for the grant and renewal of licensing applications completed within four months of their receipt, including for Cambridgeshire Constabulary.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help improve police efficiency in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The policing system must be equipped to serve the public effectively and to make efficient use of its funding and resources.
The Government has established a Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme which will save £354 million and free up millions of officer hours by 2029 across policing. The programme’s initiatives are available to all 43 forces across England & Wales. Surrey has already started to participate in some of the programme’s offerings including signing up to a new commercial energy strategy to increase price certainty and reduce risk in a volatile market.
In the coming weeks, we will be setting out further reforms in a white paper on policing.
Surrey Police will receive up to £343 million in 2026/27, an increase of up to £14.8 million when compared to the 2025/26 police funding settlement.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase training and funding for police firearm licensing authorities.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs Council have developed national training on firearms licensing. The Statutory Guidance on firearms licensing for Chief Officers of Police, most recently revised and strengthened on 5 August 2025, makes it clear that the training is mandatory for all police forces in England and Wales.
The Government has taken action to increase the fees for firearms and shotgun licensing applications that are charged by police forces. On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect to provide full-cost recovery for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. The extra income from fees will help police forces to better resource and train their firearms licensing teams. This was the first increase in fees for 10 years since 2015 and we intend to conduct more regular reviews of fees in the future.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much their Department has spent on (a) advertising and (b) marketing in each of the last three years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Determining the amount spent by the Home Office on advertising and marketing specifically is not readily available from our finance system. To try to identify the information under scope would require a manual review of multiple expenditure categories and transactions, over three years. This could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Government policies and programmes affect the lives of millions of people and in order for them to work, they must be communicated effectively to engage the public and effect positive behaviour change. However, this has to be done with cost efficiency in mind and there are strict rules to ensure value for money on Government advertising.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to expand the asylum accommodation pilot involving new council housing beyond participating local authorities.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
New council housing will not be constructed for use by asylum seekers under any circumstances. Asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing.
MHCLG and HO are investing millions in a new, more sustainable accommodation model, developed in consultation with local authorities. This funding helps deliver better outcomes for communities and taxpayers.
This new funding will complement ongoing Home Office reforms to the asylum accommodation estate, including pilot schemes to repurpose derelict buildings and to develop other community-led alternatives to the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers on a temporary basis. In the longer term, the ambition is that the investment leaves a lasting legacy of housing for local communities and reduces pressure on local housing markets.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consultation she has undertaken with local residents in areas selected for the construction of council housing for asylum seekers.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
New council housing will not be constructed for use by asylum seekers under any circumstances. Asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing.
MHCLG and HO are investing millions in a new, more sustainable accommodation model, developed in consultation with local authorities. This funding helps deliver better outcomes for communities and taxpayers.
This new funding will complement ongoing Home Office reforms to the asylum accommodation estate, including pilot schemes to repurpose derelict buildings and to develop other community-led alternatives to the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers on a temporary basis. In the longer term, the ambition is that the investment leaves a lasting legacy of housing for local communities and reduces pressure on local housing markets.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of the asylum accommodation pilot funding will be from (a) the Government and (b) local authorities.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
New council housing will not be constructed for use by asylum seekers under any circumstances. Asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing.
MHCLG and HO are investing millions in a new, more sustainable accommodation model, developed in consultation with local authorities. This funding helps deliver better outcomes for communities and taxpayers.
This new funding will complement ongoing Home Office reforms to the asylum accommodation estate, including pilot schemes to repurpose derelict buildings and to develop other community-led alternatives to the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers on a temporary basis. In the longer term, the ambition is that the investment leaves a lasting legacy of housing for local communities and reduces pressure on local housing markets.