Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will visit Dr Sophie Nightingale at Lancaster University and her specialist lab investigating generative AI and its use to create sexual digital forgeries to discuss the contribution of that research to the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government recognises and shares concerns about the proliferation of AI-enabled products and services that facilitate the creation of sexual forgeries, including deepfake non-consensual intimate images (NCII).
The Data (Use and Access) Act inserts new offences into the Sexual
Offences Act 2003, criminalising the creation and requesting the creation of
an intimate deepfake without consent (or reasonable belief in consent).
In addition to this offence, the Government announced that it will ban nudification apps and other tools designed to create synthetic NCII to stop victims’ images being tampered with and exploited without their consent. This was announced in the Freedom from Violence and Abuse: Cross-government Strategy to Build a Society for Women and Girls, which was published on 18 December.
The Home Office introduced world-leading measures, making the UK the first country to outlaw the possession, creation and distribution of AI tools for generating child sexual abuse material, as well as criminalising paedophile manuals that instruct others on developing such tools. We have also introduced an AI testing defence to help strengthen safeguards against AI models being used to create sexual digital forgeries.
We recognise the important role of academics in this space, including Dr. Sophie Nightingale, with whom Government officials have engaged. We look forward to continuing this engagement to combat and prevent AI-enabled harms.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of research by Dr Sophie Nightingale at Lancaster University into generative AI and its use to create sexual digital forgeries.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government recognises and shares concerns about the proliferation of AI-enabled products and services that facilitate the creation of sexual forgeries, including deepfake non-consensual intimate images (NCII).
The Data (Use and Access) Act inserts new offences into the Sexual
Offences Act 2003, criminalising the creation and requesting the creation of
an intimate deepfake without consent (or reasonable belief in consent).
In addition to this offence, the Government announced that it will ban nudification apps and other tools designed to create synthetic NCII to stop victims’ images being tampered with and exploited without their consent. This was announced in the Freedom from Violence and Abuse: Cross-government Strategy to Build a Society for Women and Girls, which was published on 18 December.
The Home Office introduced world-leading measures, making the UK the first country to outlaw the possession, creation and distribution of AI tools for generating child sexual abuse material, as well as criminalising paedophile manuals that instruct others on developing such tools. We have also introduced an AI testing defence to help strengthen safeguards against AI models being used to create sexual digital forgeries.
We recognise the important role of academics in this space, including Dr. Sophie Nightingale, with whom Government officials have engaged. We look forward to continuing this engagement to combat and prevent AI-enabled harms.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police forces operate specialist rape and sexual offence investigation teams; and which forces do not yet have such teams in place.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Rape and sexual offences are amongst the most harmful crimes in society and can have a devastating impact on victims, their loved ones and our communities. Despite this, we assess only half of police forces in England and Wales have a specialist team to respond to and investigate these offences.
We have therefore instructed all police forces in England and Wales to implement a specialist rape and sexual offence team by 2029 and are working with National Centre for VAWG and Publication to ensure consistency nationally.
Our efforts will mean that by the end of this parliament, victims and their supporters can be confident that, wherever they live, police forces have the right skills, knowledge and capability to deploy every tool available to bring sex offenders to justice and provide the best possible support to victims.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of setting a 2029 deadline for the establishment of dedicated rape and sexual offence investigation teams on postcode disparities in the investigation of rape and sexual offences.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Rape and sexual offences are amongst the most harmful crimes in society and can have a devastating impact on victims, their loved ones and our communities. Despite this, we assess only half of police forces in England and Wales have a specialist team to respond to and investigate these offences.
We have therefore instructed all police forces in England and Wales to implement a specialist rape and sexual offence team by 2029 and are working with National Centre for VAWG and Publication to ensure consistency nationally.
Our efforts will mean that by the end of this parliament, victims and their supporters can be confident that, wherever they live, police forces have the right skills, knowledge and capability to deploy every tool available to bring sex offenders to justice and provide the best possible support to victims.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2025 to Question 96731, how many of the 16 in person visits were conducted as joint inspections and with which other enforcement bodies.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Following my answer on 12 December 2025, in which I stated there had been 16 visits since 1 January 2025, the GLAA has identified a further 36 visits during the same period.
Therefore, since 1 January 2025, GLAA Officers have undertaken 52 (not 16) in person inspection visits to farms in Scotland.
Of these 52, 10 were conducted in partnership with other enforcement bodies including Police Scotland, Home Office Immigration Enforcement, UK Visas & Immigration, Local Authority Environmental Health Teams, the Health & Safety Executive and the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism-related offences linked to supporting Palestine Action by (a) date, (b) police force area, (c) section of the Terrorism Act used, and (d) outcomes (charged, released without charge, released under investigation, bailed) for each arrest since 5 July 2025.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office does not hold data breaking down arrests under the Terrorism Act 2000 by date or by police force area. Data on arrests, charges and convictions under the Terrorism Act 2000, including under different sections of the Terrorism Act, are published in the Home Office’s quarterly ‘Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000’ and can be accessed on GOV.UK.
The most recent publication covering the year ending 30 September 2025, was published on 18 December 2025 and can be accessed here : Operation of police powers under TACT 2000, to September 2025 - GOV.UK. In this data, arrests and charges relating to supporting Palestine Action have been shown separately.
The next quarterly Home Office publication ‘Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000’ is due to be published on 12 March 2026 and will cover the period up until the 31 December 2025.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 for allegedly showing support for Palestine Action at demonstrations since its proscription; and what proportion of those arrests relate to people taking part in non-violent protest.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office does not hold data breaking down arrests under the Terrorism Act 2000 by date or by police force area. Data on arrests, charges and convictions under the Terrorism Act 2000, including under different sections of the Terrorism Act, are published in the Home Office’s quarterly ‘Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000’ and can be accessed on GOV.UK.
The most recent publication covering the year ending 30 September 2025, was published on 18 December 2025 and can be accessed here : Operation of police powers under TACT 2000, to September 2025 - GOV.UK. In this data, arrests and charges relating to supporting Palestine Action have been shown separately.
The next quarterly Home Office publication ‘Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000’ is due to be published on 12 March 2026 and will cover the period up until the 31 December 2025.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 permitting Abu Wadee to (a) enter and (b) remain in the United Kingdom on (i) national security and (ii) public safety; and what checks were undertaken on previous statements, associations and activities relating to antisemitism and extremist ideology before any decision was taken.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office does not routinely comment on individual cases.
The first priority of government is protecting national security. All applications for UK immigration status, including asylum claims, are subject to comprehensive security checks. Where an individual is assessed as presenting a risk to our country, we take swift and robust action.
The Home Office uses various tools to detect and disrupt travel by individuals of national security interest and by individuals excluded from the UK; previously deported from the UK; or using lost, stolen or revoked documents and visas. This includes the use of domestic and international watchlists.
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 has had discussions with the Prime Minister on legal powers to restrict the (a) activities and (b) presence in the United Kingdom of Alaa Abd el Fattah.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We do not routinely comment on individual cases however the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister have made clear that Ministers and officials were previously unaware of the historic posts made by Mr El-Fattah.
All British citizens have a Right of Abode (ROA) in the UK which means they are entitled to live in the UK without any immigration restrictions and do not need to obtain the permission of an immigration officer to enter the UK.
Deportation from the UK only applies to foreign nationals. British citizens cannot be deported from the UK.
Deprivation of British citizenship is assessed individually on the basis of all available evidence.
This government and successive governments before it have been clear that the exercise of this tool must be used sparingly, and only against the highest harm and most dangerous individuals.
This includes those who pose a threat to the UK, including terrorists, and those who are involved in serious organised crime. The government does not propose to change the basis on which the power is used.
For those who are not deprived of citizenship but may have acted in a criminal manner, we encourage independent law enforcement to use their full suite of powers.
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 (a) she and (b) officials in her Department reviewed social media posts referring to violence against police officers made by Alaa Abd el Fattah prior to his return to the United Kingdom.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We do not routinely comment on individual cases however the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister have made clear that Ministers and officials were previously unaware of the historic posts made by Mr El-Fattah.
All British citizens have a Right of Abode (ROA) in the UK which means they are entitled to live in the UK without any immigration restrictions and do not need to obtain the permission of an immigration officer to enter the UK.
Deportation from the UK only applies to foreign nationals. British citizens cannot be deported from the UK.
Deprivation of British citizenship is assessed individually on the basis of all available evidence.
This government and successive governments before it have been clear that the exercise of this tool must be used sparingly, and only against the highest harm and most dangerous individuals.
This includes those who pose a threat to the UK, including terrorists, and those who are involved in serious organised crime. The government does not propose to change the basis on which the power is used.
For those who are not deprived of citizenship but may have acted in a criminal manner, we encourage independent law enforcement to use their full suite of powers.