Written questions by McVey.

Whether there are circumstances in which biometric data is not collected from immigrants arriving in the UK illegally.

The Home Office requires the collection of biometric data (facial images and fingerprints) from all individuals who enter the UK unlawfully. We use them to confirm a person’s identity and to assess whether the person poses a threat to public safety. Biometric enrolment is primarily carried out by immigration and Border Force officers, but police officers may also capture biometrics of people they suspect to be unlawfully in the UK, in support of immigration control, including during enforcement operations or criminal investigations.There are very limited exceptions where biometric data may not be collected at the time of encounter. for example cases where the individual is a child under five.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2025 to Question 52848 on Offenders: Foreign Nationals, what steps her Department is taking to support the police when immigrants who have arrived in the UK illegally are housed in communities, in the context of the absence of data on those people being electronically monitored by nationality.

The Home Office communicates regularly with local police forces, and with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, to assess the operational implications of housing asylum seekers in different areas and regions around the country, and will always do what is necessary to protect the safety and security of each local community affected.

Media and Sport, whether her Department has updated guidance on the use of single-sex facilities in response to the Supreme Court judgement in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.

We will review and update policy wherever necessary to ensure it complies with the latest legal requirements. We aim to ensure appropriate facilities are available for all staff.

Whether her Department has updated guidance on the use of single-sex facilities in response to the Supreme Court judgement in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.

The department will review and update policy wherever necessary to ensure it complies with the latest legal requirements. We aim to ensure appropriate facilities are available for all staff.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has updated guidance on the use of single-sex facilities in response to the Supreme Court judgement in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.

We will review and update policy wherever necessary to ensure it complies with the latest legal requirements. We aim to ensure appropriate facilities are available for all staff.

How many fingerprints have been collected from illegal immigrants arriving in the UK in each of the last five years.

Obtaining the specific information requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by multiple teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

How many fingerprints have been collected from illegal immigrants housed in Cheshire in each of the last five years.

Obtaining the specific information requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by multiple teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

What modelling her Department has carried out on the potential merits of a clawback mechanism for proposed changes to (a) agricultural property relief and (b) business property relief.

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. A “clawback” would mean inheritance tax would only be due if the relevant assets are sold within a specified time period after a death. Introducing this mechanism, as some have suggested, could mean some of the wealthiest estates pay less inheritance tax compared to the proposed reforms. The Government disagrees with suggestions that a clawback would raise the same revenue as the reforms being introduced from 6 April 2026; it would raise much less, which would mean raising taxes elsewhere or lowering public spending. It would also add complexity to the tax system and continue to attract the very wealthiest to tax plan since beneficiaries could hold onto the assets over the specified clawback period just to escape the tax. In accordance with standard practice, the Government does not publish internal modelling of alternative tax proposals that are not Government policy.

With reference to the Answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 32918 on Agriculture and Business: Inheritance Tax, if she will publish the full modelling her Department has carried out on that issue.

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. A “clawback” would mean inheritance tax would only be due if the relevant assets are sold within a specified time period after a death. Introducing this mechanism, as some have suggested, could mean some of the wealthiest estates pay less inheritance tax compared to the proposed reforms. The Government disagrees with suggestions that a clawback would raise the same revenue as the reforms being introduced from 6 April 2026; it would raise much less, which would mean raising taxes elsewhere or lowering public spending. It would also add complexity to the tax system and continue to attract the very wealthiest to tax plan since beneficiaries could hold onto the assets over the specified clawback period just to escape the tax. In accordance with standard practice, the Government does not publish internal modelling of alternative tax proposals that are not Government policy.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of abolishing non-crime hate incidents.

The Home Secretary has been clear about the priorities that she wants police forces across the country to focus on, and she has also been clear that a consistent and common-sense approach must be taken in relation to non-crime hate incidents.As agreed with the Home Secretary, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing are currently conducting a review of non-crime hate incidents, and we will update Parliament in due course on the findings of that review, and any changes that may be required to the current code of practice introduced by the Shadow Home Secretary in March 2023.

With reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in response to the Rt hon. Member for Tatton at Health Questions on 6 May 2025, when the relevant Minister will meet with the Rt hon. Member for Tatton.

My private office has reached out to the Rt. Hon. Member for Tatton to find a time for the meeting.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the total expenditure by his Department is on overseas (a) road repairs, (b) waterways, (c) bridges, (d) highways and (e) canals in each of the last five years.

YearRoad Transport, including road repairs, main roads (highways), and road bridgesWater transport, including waterways and canals2019£37.3m£02020£15.9m£02021£22.5m£02022£24.5m£02023£9.1m£0Source: Statistics on International DevelopmentNB Figures prior to the 2020 Department For International Development (DFID) - Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) merger were for DFID, as FCO at that time was focussed on the Prosperity Fund that was closed soon after the merger.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding was awarded to Knutsford Town Council via the Shared Prosperity Fund.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is allocated to lead local authorities (LLAs). Details of full funding allocations for LLAs can be found here for 2022-25 and here for 2025-26. Knutsford Town Council did not directly receive a UKSPF allocation for 2022-25 or 2025-26. However, Knutsford has benefited from UKSPF allocations made to Cheshire East Council who are the LLA for this area.

How many times were drugs were found in (a) men's and (b) women's prisons in each year between 2015 and 2024.

The information requested can be found via the following link: 08_Finds_drug_type_data_tool.ods.In the pivot table, “Prison Name” should be entered in the rows and “Month” in columns to find the number of incidents by prison.

Innovation and Technology, what investigations his Department has carried out on the condition of copper telecommunications cabling in rural areas.

The Department has not investigated the condition of copper telecommunications cabling in rural areas. However, we are aware that the overall condition of the copper networks is aging and deteriorating: the number of major incidents on the copper-based PSTN has been rising, with a 45% increase in 2024 compared to the previous year. Between April 2024 and March 2025, there were over 2,600 major incidents on the PSTN, each affecting 500 or more customers. The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks arising from the industry-led migration of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for all customers across the UK.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant of the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 45609 on Knutsford Town Council: Finance, how much of this grant was received by Knutsford Town Council.

Knutsford Town Council received £552,000 of the grant awarded to them in the first round of the Community Ownership Fund. The project failed to proceed as planned. By agreement with the applicant the full amount of grant received was returned to the Department.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2025 to Question 35647 on Coronavirus: Research, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority case rulings with reference to (a) AUTH/3835/10/23 and (b) 0316/10/24 on the governance of the Government’s mRNA research and development partnership with Moderna.

In April 2025, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) was made aware that Moderna was to be issued a public reprimand by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) appeal board. Moderna would be subject to an audit following two recent cases where they had been ruled to have breached the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry Code.The Government has conducted an initial assessment of the PMCPA’s ruling, and has determined that it will not impact the delivery of the Moderna-United Kingdom Strategic Partnership.The UKHSA will work with Moderna to ensure any recommendations from the report are duly considered and implemented, and to obtain assurance that these will be upheld for the duration of the partnership.

What the penalty is for foreign national offenders who breach the conditions of their tag.

Available information on the number of individuals electronically monitored (EM) in each of the last five years is available here: Electronic Monitoring Statistics Annual Publication, March 2024 - GOV.UK, but is not broken down by nationality.When an FNO breaches the conditions of their EM, the action taken will consider the nature and frequency of breach, the level of harm posed by the person and any previous history of non-compliance, including potential prosecution where the breach relates to refusal to comply with induction onto electronic monitoring (EM), deliberate attempts to remove or damage a device, or tampering with the device so that it fails to operate correctly.Further details of potential sanctions for non-compliance with EM are set out on Page 93 of the Immigration bail guidance, available at Immigration bail.docx.

How many foreign national offenders have breached the conditions of their tag in each of the last five years.

Available information on the number of individuals electronically monitored (EM) in each of the last five years is available here: Electronic Monitoring Statistics Annual Publication, March 2024 - GOV.UK, but is not broken down by nationality.When an FNO breaches the conditions of their EM, the action taken will consider the nature and frequency of breach, the level of harm posed by the person and any previous history of non-compliance, including potential prosecution where the breach relates to refusal to comply with induction onto electronic monitoring (EM), deliberate attempts to remove or damage a device, or tampering with the device so that it fails to operate correctly.Further details of potential sanctions for non-compliance with EM are set out on Page 93 of the Immigration bail guidance, available at Immigration bail.docx.

How many foreign national offenders have been tagged in each of the last five years.

Available information on the number of individuals electronically monitored (EM) in each of the last five years is available here: Electronic Monitoring Statistics Annual Publication, March 2024 - GOV.UK, but is not broken down by nationality.When an FNO breaches the conditions of their EM, the action taken will consider the nature and frequency of breach, the level of harm posed by the person and any previous history of non-compliance, including potential prosecution where the breach relates to refusal to comply with induction onto electronic monitoring (EM), deliberate attempts to remove or damage a device, or tampering with the device so that it fails to operate correctly.Further details of potential sanctions for non-compliance with EM are set out on Page 93 of the Immigration bail guidance, available at Immigration bail.docx.