Every parliamentary written question tabled by John Hayes this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 21–40 of 287 · Home Office
What is the total cost to the public purse of contracts awarded to Corporate Travel Management since July 2024 in relation to accommodation for asylum seekers.
The Home Office publishes information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.Specific contract values can be found at Contract for the Provision of Asylum Accommodation and Travel Services - Contracts Finder.
What steps she is taking to support border and immigration officials to deal with people coming to the UK with possible cases of the Ebola virus.
The current Ebola outbreak poses a low risk to the UK population. Border Force officers adhere to Home Office Communicable Disease guidance, which outlines the most common infections that may be acquired from animals, plants, and other sources. In the eve...
What target figure for asylum dispersal has been given for a) South Holland District and b) South Kesteven district.
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.Delivery of Full Dispersal...
How many properties a) her department and b) Clearsprings Ready Homes Ltd have acquired in England for asylum dispersal since July 2024.
The procurement of asylum accommodation nationally is managed via contracted accommodation providers that each have specific regions of focus. Details of the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC) are published in the public domain and can be f...
Whether it is her policy that police forces in England use facial recognition technology during protests.
The police have a responsibility to monitor a protest if serious disorder is expected and to keep the public safe.Facial recognition must be used in a way that complies with the legal framework which includes human rights, equality and data protection law...
What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the resources available to Lincolnshire police to tackle rural crime.
This Government is introducing the most radical and comprehensive policing reforms in nearly 200 years. We will modernise policing in this country – equipping it to tackle more sophisticated, online, and cross-border crimes (like wildlife crime and organi...
What recent steps she has taken to tackle sham marriages.
The Government takes abuse of the immigration system, including sham marriages and civil partnerships, extremely seriously. Family migration must be based on a genuine and subsisting relationship, and where this is not the case the Home Office will take r...
If she will publish the list of training programmes used by civil servants in her Department since 2020.
There is no single authoritative source that captures all locally commissioned or bespoke training activity across the Department.
If she will take steps to reduce the number of illegal tobacco and vaping products on sale in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
The Government is committed to reducing the number of illicit tobacco and vaping products on sale nationally. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has a robust strategy to tackle the illicit tobacco trade ‘Stubbing Out the Problem’. HMRC works closely with National and Local Trading Standards to disrupt the illicit tobacco trade at retail level through Operation CeCe, which has since it began in January 2021removed more than 74 million illicit cigarettes, 19,750kg of hand-rolling tobacco and almost 175kg of shisha products from sale. HMRC has also introduced a strengthened sanctions regime for breaches of the UK Tobacco Track and Trace System to combat illicit tobacco sales. This granted new powers to Trading Standards, enabling them to refer cases to HMRC where they find evidence of high street retailers selling tobacco products that do not comply with the System. HMRC can then then investigate and issue civil sanctions, including penalties of up to £10,000. £100 million of new ‘smokefree’ funding has been allocated over 5 years to boost existing HMRC and Border Force enforcement capability.Between April 2023 and March 2024, HMRC and Border Force seized 1.36bn cigarettes and 92,435kg of hand-rolling tobacco. As with tobacco, there is a cross-government approach to reducing the number of illegal vapes. The vaping equivalent of Operation CeCe - Operation Joseph led to the seizure of over 1 million illegal vapes in 2023-24, the last full year for which statistics are available. HMRC are working closely with both Trading Standards and Border Force to develop a robust compliance approach for the introduction of Vaping Products Duty (VPD) on 1 October 2026. VPD is a new excise duty on vaping products, which will introduce additional compliance powers and controls across the vaping supply chain. This includes the introduction of a Vaping Duty Stamps (VDS) scheme, which will require highly secure stamps to be placed on all duty paid goods, supporting enforcement agencies and customers to identify illegal products. HMRC are recruiting over 300 staff to strengthen this compliance approach and deliver VPD.
If her department has kept records of complaints made by Chagossian asylum seekers fleeing Mauritius and applying for asylum in the United Kingdom in the last 10 years.
The Home Office records all complaints received. However, complaints are not routinely categorised or collated by the specific criteria requested, and the information is therefore not held.
What steps her Department is taking to help prevent heating oil theft in rural communities in Lincolnshire.
This Government is introducing the most radical and comprehensive policing reforms in nearly 200 years. We will modernise policing in this country – equipping it to tackle more sophisticated, online, and cross-border crimes (like fuel theft, wildlife crime and organised equipment theft), while also restoring neighbourhood policing.We have hit our target of 3,000 more neighbourhood officers in March – and our target remains 13k by the end of the parliament. With the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee every neighbourhood, rural or urban, now gets a named contactable officer and a response to non-urgent queries in 72 hours. Every rural area will also be covered by a Local Policing Area under a commander responsible for emergency response, local crime investigation and neighbourhood policing. They will be set targets to ensure they answer 90% of 999 calls within 10 seconds and attend 90% of the most serious incidents within 20 minutes in rural areas.This financial year (FY25/26) we are providing £800,000 of funding to the National Rural Crime Unit and the National Wildlife Crime Unit, and we will be providing the same level of funding in 26/27. These capabilities play key roles in helping police across the UK tackle organised theft and disrupt serious and organised crime groups, which can pose unique challenges for policing in large and isolated rural areas.The Government recognises that there can be challenges in responding to rural crime, which is why we worked closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to deliver the next iteration of their Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy and sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling those crimes that predominantly affect our rural communities.
What estimate her Department has made of the number of asylum claims of Chagossians to the United Kingdom from a) Mauritius and b) the Seychelles since July 2024.
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Whether their Department has used artificial intelligence to assist with drafting (a) legislation and (b) policy in the past 12 months.
AI is being used for a range of purposes in the Home Office to improve business delivery as part of overall digital improvements in the department. The use of AI tools is supported by departmental guidance and ongoing staff training to ensure responsible, ethical and effective adoption.Officials may use approved AI tools, including Microsoft Copilot to assist in day-to-day activities such as assisting in the creation of emails, documents and presentations; transcribing meetings; summarising information; and performing advanced search, data retrieval and analysis. Where AI tools are used this must be made clear, and officials remain responsible for the content produced.
What the nationalities were of those granted visas under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship programme.
A range of processing data, including case outcomes on Ukraine visa applications, which can be filtered to the nationality of the applicant, are published here:Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes detailed datasets, year ending December 2025
What proportion of those granted visas under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship programme were Ukrainian nationals.
A range of processing data, including case outcomes on Ukraine visa applications, which can be filtered to the nationality of the applicant, are published here:Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes detailed datasets, year ending December 2025
How many businesses were found guilty of employing illegal workers, and how much were they fined in 2025.
Information on illegal working civil penalty statistics has been published since 2016 as part of the Home Office Immigration Enforcement Transparency Data. This can be found at immigration-enforcement-data-oct-dec-2025 on tab CP02.This publication covers the period up to 31 December 2025 and includes both limited companies and sole traders.
Whether murder victims are posthumously (a) drug and (b) alcohol tested as a matter of routine.
Forensic post-mortems follow the Code of Practice issued by the Home Office, the Royal College of Pathologists and the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland, which requires toxicology samples to be taken and preserved where necessary. If samples are not taken and an issue later arises (for example, at trial), it may be difficult to obtain usable material. Whether samples are submitted for analysis depends on the circumstances of the case and local police and coroner policies and decisions. Drug and alcohol testing is usually commissioned where it may help establish the cause of death or support the investigation.
What steps she has taken to to tackle county lines gangs targeting children to act as drug runners.
The Government is committed to halving knife crime and tackling violent and exploitative county lines gangs is crucial to achieving this. That is why we are investing more than £34 million in 26/27 in the County Lines Programme, to pursue violent line holders and safeguard children and vulnerable people.The success and impact of the County Lines Programme is clear. Since July 2024, the Programme has resulted in more than 3,000 deal lines closed, 8,200 arrests, (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 1,600 deal line holders), 4,300 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people, and 900 knives seized. More than 620 children and young people have also received dedicated specialist support through our county lines support service in the same period.Independent evaluation of the Programme has shown it is having a significant impact, reducing hospitalisations due to knife stabbings by 25% and drug misuse hospitalisations by 29% in the Programme taskforce areas. The latest Strategic Assessment by the National County Lines Coordination Centre also shows that the number of children involved in county lines has reduced by 17% since 22/23.As committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we have also introduced a new offence of criminal exploitation of children in the Crime and Policing Bill to go after the gangs who are luring young people into violence and crime. As part of this legislation, we are delivering new civil preventative orders to disrupt and prevent child criminal exploitation from occurring or re-occurring.
Whether her Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.
The Home Office does not, and has not paid for followers on its social media platforms.
What assessment she has made of the risks of remote testing in her Department's English Language Test.
The Home Office has carefully considered the risks of a remote delivery model as part of the procurement to replace current Secure English Language Testing arrangements.The key risks centre on maintaining the integrity and security of the immigration system, including identity assurance, protection against impersonation, and confidence in the reliability of test results. The Home Office has engaged the market to understand what capability is available to maintain high standards of security and integrity and has developed a robust security schedule and solution requirements to ensure this remains at the heart of the digital by default solution.Following rounds of pre-market engagement, the ongoing procurement is explicitly designed to test bidders' ability to meet these standards, and the Department will adopt only those solutions that demonstrably maintain the high level of assurance required.