Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, or plan to have, with the Revenge Porn Helpline about the work it undertakes helping victims of intimate image abuse.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government greatly values the work of the Revenge Porn Helpline, which provides high-quality support and advice to victims of intimate image abuse.
Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls included a commitment to explore routes to ensure that intimate images that are taken, created or shared without consent are removed online. We have engaged – and will continue to engage – with representatives from the Revenge Porn Helpline on options to achieve this commitment. This includes considering amendments tabled to the Crime and Policing Bill on the removal of non-consensual intimate images online.
The Home Office provides funding to the Revenge Porn Helpline, which was increased for the 2024/2025 financial year in recognition of the year-on-year increases to their workload.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that police have adequate powers to detain vehicles with number plates that are non-readable by automatic number plate recognition systems in order to assess whether the vehicle or driver have committed other offences.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government takes road safety extremely seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads, as well as tackling behaviours that make our roads less safe. We have tough penalties and rigorous enforcement in place to deter offending behaviour. The government published the Road Safety Strategy on 7 January which consults on a number of motoring offences, including tougher enforcement to tackle illegal number plates. Police have a suite of powers to deal with vehicles being driven illegally, anti-socially or carelessly and without insurance or a driving licence. These powers include seizure and disposal of vehicles involved in offences. Police also have the power to stop a vehicle so that further investigation of potential offences can take place.The Government is also working with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the police and industry to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.
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 her Department is taking to help improve safety for the LGBT+ community.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that LGBT+ people are safe, supported and able to live their lives free from discrimination, prejudice and hate.
As set out in our manifesto, we are expanding the aggravated offences in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 so that crimes motivated by hostility towards a person’s sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability attract tougher penalties, in line with existing aggravated offences for race and religion.
As my Hon. friend Dame Diana Johnson confirmed at Commons Report Stage on 18 June, the Government will implement this through an amendment in the Lords to the Crime and Policing Bill.
Through the Sentencing Act 2020, courts already apply enhanced sentencing where there is evidence of hostility based on sexual orientation or transgender identity. The expansion of aggravated offences will further reinforce the seriousness with which these crimes are treated, ensuring perpetrators face longer sentences and communities are better protected.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 12 February 2025 to Question HL4510 on Community Relations: Muslims, what information her Department holds on the reason that the Muslim Council of Britain's written evidence was submitted to the Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Following the appalling attack on a synagogue in Manchester on 2 October 2025, the Home Secretary announced an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October. The Review is being led by Lord Ken Macdonald of River Glaven KC, supported by former Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill KPM.
Lord Macdonald is engaging with a wide range of organisations, including different faith and community groups. Given the Review is independent, it is for the Chair leading it to determine which groups and organisations he wishes to hear from.
The Government’s policy of non-engagement with the Muslim Council of Britain has not changed.
The Review is due to submit its report to the Home Secretary in Spring 2026.
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 page 12 of the Police reform white paper entitled From Local to National: A New Model for Policing (CP1489), what assessment she has made of the potential merits of decoupling the police allocation formula from overall police officer numbers for each force.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s Safer Streets Mission sets a clear expectation for policing to deliver safer communities and improved public confidence. An effective, well-supported police service is central to achieving this. That is why forces should have the right resources to tackle crime and keep communities safe.
As announced in the police funding settlement and Police Reform White Paper, we are abolishing arbitrary officer headcounts from 2026-27, and are instead prioritising the introduction of a neighbourhood policing grant. This will ensure that forces are putting uniformed officers out into the community, where people want to see them, fighting crime on our streets.
For 2026-27, the police funding settlement announced that a total of up to £363 million will be available to forces through the neighbourhood policing grant, to support the delivery of an additional 1,750 neighbourhood policing personnel by 31 March 2027.
The Police Reform White Paper also set out our plans for a new Police Workforce Strategy, which will provide the structure and direction needed to modernise the policing workforce at a national level and build a profession fit for the future, while ensuring forces retain the flexibility to meet the specific needs of their local communities.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on whether current Police and Crime Commissioners in (a) England and (b) Wales will serve their full term in office before the positions are discontinued, where (i) there is a combined authority mayor for that police force and (ii) where there is no such mayor.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is the Government’s intention that the role of Police and Crime Commissioner will continue until May 2028.
At that point, subject to legislation, it is the Government’s intention to transfer policing functions to Strategic Authority Mayors wherever possible, or to elected council leaders through Policing and Crime Boards where it is not.
The exception is in Cumbria where, subject to their Statutory Instrument being made and the Combined Authority established, it is anticipated that the newly created Mayor will be responsible for the governance of policing when they are elected in May 2027. This is part of the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government’s Devolution Priority Programme.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment has she made of the adequacy of penalties for those who have committed crimes related to wildlife.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Wildlife crime is unacceptable and significant sanctions are already available for judges to hand down to those convicted of such crimes. Anyone who commits an offence under existing legislation such as the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 could face up to a six-month custodial sentence and/or an unlimited fine. Sentencing of those convicted of wildlife crimes remains a matter for judges, and these decisions are rightly taken independently of the Government.
In addition, while the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 protects animals that are commonly domesticated, it can extend to wildlife as it prohibits causing unnecessary suffering to wild animals under human control, for example when they are held in a hand or caught live in a trap. Under this Act the maximum sentence for animal cruelty is five years, which is equal to the highest penalty in the world for such crimes. In the Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy published in December 2025, a commitment was made to review and look to strengthen penalties for cruelty against wildlife more generally so that a disparity is addressed and they are consistent with the higher levels of sentencing available for animal welfare offences against pets, livestock and wild animals when under human control.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to prevent the illegal killing of hen harriers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The illegal killing of hen harriers is unacceptable. Bird of prey persecution is a national wildlife crime priority and there are strong penalties in place for offences committed against birds of prey, including hen harriers. Defra supports the work of a national Tactical Delivery Group which brings stakeholders together to tackle such criminality.
Defra is a principal funder of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime and directly assists law enforcers in their investigations. Defra is providing £494,000 for NWCU this year. In 2024, the NWCU launched the Hen Harrier Task Force (HTF) – a partnership designed to help tackle the illegal persecution of hen harriers. Through the HTF, more efficient channels of communication, cooperation, and data sharing between partners such as Natural England, the RSPB, and the NWCU expedites the coordination of effective enforcement response. This also supports efforts to successfully prosecute criminals and deters other would-be offenders. The HTF represents a pivotal shift in combating wildlife crime; it is using innovative technology (such as tracking drones and specialised detection dogs) to overcome logistical challenges and enhance evidence collection in remote areas.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to prevent crime relating to wildlife.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office worked in partnership with Defra to support the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) in delivering their Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy for 2025-28. The Strategy – which was published on 25 November -provides a framework through which policing, and its partners can work together to tackle the most prevalent threats and emerging issues including wildlife crime.
We also fund the National Wildlife Crime Unit who provide intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to forces and other law enforcement agencies across the UK to support them in investigating wildlife crime.
We are ensuring forces have the tools and resources they need to deal with rural crime including wildlife crime. We are on track to deliver an additional 3,000 neighbourhood officers by March.
Asked by: Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what arrangements are underway to recruit a new Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner to ensure continuity of the role and remit once the current incumbent's term ends in December.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The role of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) is important to tackling Modern Slavery and supporting victims of this abhorrent crime.
In line with the requirements of the Governance Code on Public Appointments, Ministers are currently considering the recruitment options, enabling a decision to be taken in good time before the current incumbent's term ends in December.