Written questions by Snowden.

What consultation local authorities are provided with in the development and review of their local Asylum Accommodation Plans.

Since 2022, the Home Office has adopted a policy of Full Dispersal, which works to ensure that Asylum accommodation is equitably distributed across the country and that a small number of Local Authorities are not unduly burdened. The Asylum Accommodation plans were developed in an evidence based and deliverable manner and are underpinned by an indexing model which considers several social factors, including crime rates, levels of homelessness and availability of GPs and Dentists.Development of the plans was informed by feedback provided by local authorities, Strategic Migration Partners (SMPs) the Local Government Association as well as other Government Departments. Details of the Asylum Accommodation Plans are shared with nominated local authority officials and progress is routinely monitored within regular official forums jointly attended by Local Authority, Home Office, accommodation providers and SMPs colleagues.The Home Office and its accommodation providers operate a robust consultation process, which not only ensures that local authorities are aware of all ongoing procurement activity of Dispersed Accommodation in their respective areas, but also allows them to share local expertise and intelligence, including information from statutory partners such as police, at the earliest opportunity to inform procurement.Our accommodation providers ensure that consultation with local authorities is carried out in accordance with the requirements and standards set out in the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts. At all times, the Home Office maintains oversight of procurement and consultation to ensure effective and appropriate delivery, in line with expected standards and requirements.

What the current Service User Demand Plan target is for dispersed asylum accommodation in Fylde Borough; and how that target was calculated.

The Asylum Accommodation Plans offer an evidence-based approach to procurement and delivery of asylum accommodation nationally, in a manner that is fair and equitable. Development of the Plans was informed by feedback provided by local authorities, Strategic Migration Partners (SMPs) the Local Government Association as well as other Government Departments. Furthermore, the plans are underpinned by an indexing model which considers several social factors, including crime rates, levels of homelessness and availability of GPs and Dentists.Details of the Asylum Accommodation Plans, including the Service User Demand Plans for specific Local Authorities, are not published. However, these details are shared with nominated local authority officials, including at Fylde Borough Council. Progress against the Asylum Accommodation Plans is routinely monitored within regular official forums jointly attended by Local Authority, Home Office, accommodation providers and SMPs colleagues.

What guidance her Department issues to local authorities, police forces and licensed premises on the operation of Pubwatch schemes.

Pubwatch schemes are voluntary, licensee-led local partnerships that operate independently of Government. Advice and practical resources for such schemes are provided by the National Pubwatch charity, which supports local groups across the country.Separately, the Home Secretary issues statutory section 182 guidance under the Licensing Act 2003 to licensing authorities in England and Wales on the discharge of their functions. Licensing authorities must have regard to this guidance, which supports partnership working between licensing authorities, the police and industry to promote the four licensing objectives.The section 182 guidance does not set operational requirements for Pubwatch schemes but does recognise and support industry led schemes such as Pubwatch as examples of good practice in promoting safer, well run licensed premises.

With reference to her Department's news story entitled Illegal working raids reach highest level in UK history, published on 13 January 2026, how much of the £5 million additional funding for Immigration Enforcement has been allocated to operations in the North West.

The £5 million additional funding for Immigration Enforcement was provided to increase Illegal Working activity nationally and was not allocated regionally.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking legislative steps to require the (a) resignation, (b) retirement and (b) suspension of Chief Constables on performance grounds.

As the Home Secretary said to the House on 14 January, when a Chief Constable is responsible for a damaging failure of leadership, the public rightly expect the Home Secretary to act.This Government intends to restore their ability to do so and will soon reintroduce the Home Secretary’s power to dismiss Chief Constables.

How many illegal working enforcement raids were carried out in Lancashire between July 2024 and December 2025.

To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication.Our published data on enforcement visits is available at: Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2025 - GOV.UKInformation about enforcement visits in Lancashire is not currently available in our published data.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the powers of law enforcement agencies to identify and investigate criminal activity conducted using VoIP services.

Under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, law enforcement agencies can apply for targeted interception warrants, equipment interference warrants, and communications data acquisition authorisations, all of which can enable access to data associated with VoIP services.These powers can enable authorities to identify users, access metadata, and, where authorised, obtain content when necessary and proportionate and subject to satisfying the stringent safeguards within the legislation.This means that law enforcement have a range of powers to identify and investigate criminal activity conducted using VoIP services. The Home Office keeps the effectiveness of these powers under review.

How many recorded offences involving the use of VoIP services there have been in each of the last five years.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of offences recorded by police forces in England and Wales which have been identified as having an online element. Offences involving the use of VoIP services are included but are not separately identifiable in the data held centrally.This data can be found in table C5 of the Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables here: Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics.The definition of online crime within this data collection was revised in April 2024 to state that offences involving the use of VoIP services should be flagged to improve clarity and consistency in recording.

What compensation is available to people whose property is damaged as a result of policing operations at neighbouring properties; or properties where suspects are not the legal owners.

Where police have caused damage to property, for example by forcing entry, individuals may be able to claim compensation by raising a complaint or claim with the police force concerned, who will assess the claim in accordance with force policy.

How many police forces operate specialist rape and sexual offence investigation teams; and which forces do not yet have such teams in place.

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.

Whether she plans to extend the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme to include offences such as stalking, sexual assault and harassment.

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 Government committed in its manifesto to giving stalking victims the right to know the true identity of their online stalker. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing statutory guidance to support the police to release identifying information about a stalker to a victim, so victims can know who is threatening them.The Crime and Policing Bill will also enable the Home Secretary to issue statutory guidance about the disclosure of information to prevent sexual offending. This will ensure the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme and any similar schemes in the future are delivered consistently by all forces.The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme currently enables the police to disclose information to a victim or potential victim of domestic abuse about their partner’s or ex-partner's previous abusive or violent offending.In the recently published Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy we committed to exploring the potential to expand both the stalking Right to Know scheme and the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme to other forms of violence against women and girls.

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.

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.

Whether her Department plans to introduce a national regulatory framework governing when police forces may require escorts for abnormal load movements.

The police are best placed to determine police escort requirements for abnormal loads, based on a thorough assessment of local risk, which can include consideration of the risks to road users and the potential for congestion. A decision should take account of the force’s local geography, traffic conditions and events taking place. Forces should take account of the National Police Chiefs’ Council guidance to ensure decisions are safe, practical and effective.The National Police Chiefs’ Council Guidance on the management of abnormal loads was last updated in May 2025. It sets out consistent principles to guide force’s decision based on local circumstances.There are no plans to introduce a national regulatory framework governing the movement of abnormal loads. The government is satisfied that decisions are best handled by individual police forces to ensure decisions reflect local conditions.

What steps she is taking to address inconsistencies between police forces in their interpretation and application of escort requirements for lawful abnormal load movements.

The police are best placed to determine police escort requirements for abnormal loads, based on a thorough assessment of local risk, which can include consideration of the risks to road users and the potential for congestion. A decision should take account of the force’s local geography, traffic conditions and events taking place. Forces should take account of the National Police Chiefs’ Council guidance to ensure decisions are safe, practical and effective.The National Police Chiefs’ Council Guidance on the management of abnormal loads was last updated in May 2025. It sets out consistent principles to guide force’s decision based on local circumstances.There are no plans to introduce a national regulatory framework governing the movement of abnormal loads. The government is satisfied that decisions are best handled by individual police forces to ensure decisions reflect local conditions.

How funding for undercover online policing units will be distributed; and what outcomes each unit is expected to deliver.

Undercover Online Police Officers (UCOLs) deploy online to identify and pursue offenders seeking to sexually exploit children. Using unique capabilities and covert tactics to target dangerous offenders, UCOLs focus on a range of offences including grooming, peer-to-peer offending, live streaming, contact offences and historic or current familial offending. The UCOL Network has achieved continued success, surpassing its targeted annual outcomes for operational activity and responding to emerging threats, including the proliferation of AI-generated child sexual abuse material.Given the UCOLs’ continued success in disrupting online child sexual abuse, the Home Office has invested £11.7m in this capability this past FY 2025/26. The government has also committed to expand the use of the Home Office’s network of Undercover Online Operatives to address Violence Against Women and Girls in its’ “Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls”, published on 18th December 2025.

What metrics are being used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Young Futures Panel pilots.

The Young Futures Programme is a key part of the Safer Streets Mission, and the Government’s target to halve knife crime over the next decade and reduce anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls. Under this programme, the Government is intervening earlier to ensure children and young People who are facing poorer outcomes and are vulnerable to being drawn into crime are identified and offered support in a more systematic way.As part of this, we are piloting new multi-agency Young Futures Panels. These pilots are proactively identifying and referring children and young people who may currently be falling through the gaps to a range of different support services much earlier. 53 Young Futures Panels went operational in October and November 2025, across the areas of the country that collectively account for more than 80% knife crime and have already helped to support hundreds of at-risk young people into positive, diversionary activity.To support future delivery, the Home Office has appointed RAND Europe to deliver a process evaluation and feasibility impact study of Young Futures Panel pilots in 2025/26.The process evaluation will look at how the pilot Panels are implemented across the 20 Violence Reduction Units and 3 Serious Violence Duty partnerships involved in the pilot, identifying good practice and learning. In addition, the Home Office have commissioned RAND to conduct a feasibility study to consider whether a future impact evaluation of the programme is viable.

How many small boat crossings have taken place in each of the last ten years, including 2025.

The Home Office publishes daily statistics on detected small boat arrivals to the UK in the Small boat activity in the English Channel - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab) release.More detailed published data on small boat arrivals to the UK are provided in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release(opens in a new tab)’, with the nationality, age grouping and sex of arrivals shown in table Irr_D01 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets(opens in a new tab)’, with the latest data up to the end of September 2025.

What assessment she has made of the prevalence of drug smuggling among illegal migrants who arrive in the UK via the Channel.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to questions 71052, 71053 and 71054 on 4th September.

How many illegal immigrants have been deported under the Dublin Convention.

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of individuals transferred out of the UK under the Dublin regulation is published in the Dublin regulation detailed dataset (Dub_D01). Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The data relates up to the end of 2020, after which the UK was no longer subject to the Dublin regulation.

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.

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.