Written questions by Babarinde.

If she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendations of the report entitled Invisible Women "Made Visible": Learning from the Femicides of Black, Minoritised and Migrant Women published by Killed Women in October 2025.

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government, and we are treating it as the national emergency it is. The recently published ‘Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy’ sets out the steps we are taking to drive system-wide change, so that no life is lost to violence and abuse that could have been prevented. All victims, including Black and other minoritised ethnic groups, are integrated into our response, and every commitment set out in the Strategy will consider Black and other minoritised ethnic groups.The report illustrates the stark picture of the risk of fatal violence faced by Black and ethnic minority women. The Government is absolutely committed to improving the response to all forms of violence, and femicide as part of that. I wholeheartedly thank the Killed Women network for their work to raise awareness of these appalling crimes and have written to them in response to this report.The Home Office continues to build the evidence base on all domestic abuse related deaths through funding the Domestic Homicide Project, to capture information on these deaths from all 43 police forces in England and Wales and identify how the response can be improved. We are also exploring the possibility of expanding the project’s scope in future years to encompass all deaths that occur in the context of VAWG. This will enable a more comprehensive understanding of every death resulting from VAWG to improve our response and prevent further loss of life.

What steps she is taking to help prevent bicycle theft in Eastbourne constituency.

Bike theft has a significant impact on individuals and for too long, many victims have felt not enough was being done to prevent their bikes being stolen or track down the thieves responsible. The Crime and Policing Bill, now at Committee Stage in the House of Lords, will amend the Theft Act 1968 to give police new powers. Officers will be able to enter and search premises where stolen items – such as GPS-tracked bicycles – are reasonably believed to have been stolen and located, and where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a court warrant. This will significantly enhance the ability of the police to act swiftly and effectively in recovering stolen property. Additionally, the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will ensure that every community in England and Wales will have named and contactable officers dealing with local issues, and that neighbourhood teams spend the majority of their time in their communities providing visible patrols and engaging with local communities and businesses.

What steps she is taking to increase funding for training in (a) Sussex Police and (b) other local police forces.

The Government is committed to ensuring police forces are supported to effectively tackle crime. That is why we have increased funding for policing in England and Wales by up to £1.2 billion this financial year. Sussex Police will receive up to £423 million in 2025-26. This is an increase of up to £28.5 million compared to the previous year.Training standards and the national policing curriculum are set by the College of Policing. Forces provide local training and development at several different levels ranging from initial entry, leadership and ongoing development..

What steps her Department is taking to tackle youth offending in Eastbourne.

In 2025/26 the Home Office is investing over £1.04m in grant funding to the Sussex Violence Reduction Unit, alongside £269k to continue the implementation of the Serious Violence Duty. This funding will support delivery of a range of early intervention and prevention programmes, which includes the continuation of a Focussed Deterrence intervention in East Sussex. This project is targeted at young people who carry knives and provides them with tailored multi-agency support to desist from violence, alongside enforcement measures.We are also investing more than £43m in the County Lines Programme this financial year to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade. Through our County Lines Programme, we are funding the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. We also have a dedicated fund to help local police forces, including Sussex Police, tackle the scourge of county lines.Going further, the Young Futures Programme is a key part of the Safer Streets Mission and will help deliver the Government’s target to halve knife crime over the next decade. Under this programme the Government will intervene earlier, to ensure Children and Young People (CYP) who are facing poorer outcomes and are vulnerable to being drawn into crime are identified and offered support in a more systematic way. The programme also aims to create more support and opportunities for them in their communities.

How many hate crime incidents were recorded in Eastbourne in the latest year for which data is available.

The Home Office publishes official statistics on the number of hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales at the Police Force Area level.Data for Sussex, for the year ending March 2024, can be found here: Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2024 - GOV.UK

What steps her Department is taking to tackle crime in (a) town centres and (b) Eastbourne town centre.

Creating Safer Town Centres is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. This Government wants town centres to be vibrant, welcoming places where businesses thrive and people feel safe to come to shop, socialise and live.That is why this Government has awarded £66.3 million in Hotspot Action funding to all 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales in 2025/6.The Hotspot Action Fund will increase visible uniformed patrols in town centres and other areas most impacted by knife crime, serious violence and anti-social behaviour. The Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner has been awarded £1,436,889 as part of this funding. It will be for the PCC to decide how that money is used across the force area, including Eastbourne.This Government has additionally made £200m available to forces in 2025/26 to kickstart the delivery of our commitment to have 13,000 more neighbourhood officers across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament. This investment will be used to enhance local policing capacity, with Sussex Police’s projected growth over 2025 to 2026 to be 43 police officers (FTE), and 21 Special Constables. We are delivering more police on our streets, tackling the crimes that blight our town centres.The Safer Streets Summer initiative will run from 30 June to the end of September 2025. The primary goal is to prevent crime and disorder and increase meaningful and visible consequences for the minority who feel it is acceptable to cause this scourge on society.Over 500 town centres and thousands of shops will benefit from increased police patrols and local action to tackle town centre crime and anti-social behaviour with the launch of the Government’s Safer Streets Summer Initiative across England and Wales. In Sussex, they will be focussing on over 20 locations as part of the initiative, including Eastbourne.

What steps she is taking to tackle drug-related crime in Eastbourne.

To deliver on our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle the gangs that lure children and young people into crime and run county lines through violence and exploitation.County Lines are the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we will continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade.From July 2024 to March 2025, policing activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in more than 1,200 deal lines closed, 2,000 arrests (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 800 deal line holders) and 2,100 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people.Through our County Lines Programme we are funding the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC), to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. We also have a dedicated fund to help local police forces, including Sussex Police, tackle the scourge of county lines.In addition, as committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we are introducing a new offence of the 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 also delivering new civil preventative orders which will support the police and NCA to disrupt and prevent child criminal exploitation from occurring or re-occurring.We are also going further in our response to wider criminal exploitation introducing a new offence of ‘cuckooing’ and have also introduced a new offence to tackle coerced internal concealment. These three new offences will all work to tackle the interconnected and exploitative practices often used by criminal gangs, especially in county lines.

What discussions her Department has had with Sussex Police on the adequacy of police response times in Eastbourne.

Chief Constables are responsible for determining the allocation of resources for operational policing and managing their response times, in line with the priorities set out by their Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) assesses the operational performance of forces in England and Wales. HMICFRS last published a Police Effectiveness Efficiency and Legitimacy inspection (PEEL) report for Sussex Police on 13 April 2023. Its next PEEL report is expected to be published shortly.Katy Bourne, as the directly elected PCC for Sussex Police, is responsible for holding the Chief Constable of the force to account for its performance.In November 2024, the Home Secretary announced the creation of a new Performance Framework and a Home Office performance unit to help deliver this ambition.The new Police Performance Framework will help to ensure consistent collection and analysis of police performance data and enable greater Government oversight of performance to ensure that all forces are delivering the level of performance that the public expect of them.

What steps her Department is taking to help prevent (a) hate crime and (b) harassment towards people with hidden disabilities.

We are clear that all hate crimes, including those targeting disability, are completely unacceptable. There must be zero tolerance for every form of hate crime in Britain and we back the police in taking strong action against the perpetrators of these appalling offences. The Government funds an online hate crime reporting portal called True Vision, designed so victims of all types of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report what has happened to them. We also continue to fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub which supports individual local police forces in dealing specifically with online hate crime. The Equality Act 2010 provides strong protection from harassment for people who meet the Act's definition of disability, which can include hidden conditions. Protection from harassment related to a person's disability applies in a variety of settings such as employment and when accessing goods and services. A person who thinks they have been harassed may take their case to a court or an employment tribunal.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) the Government Actuary Department and (b) fire service pension providers have adequate tools to calculate pension entitlements for retired fire service workers.

The Home Office works closely with the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) to ensure that all actuarial advice, guidance and tools provided to Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) actively reflect changes to the firefighters’ pension schemes and regulations.GAD, in partnership with the Home Office, support FRAs by providing appropriate actuarial guidance to pensions administrators, ensuring they have the means to accurately calculate pension entitlements for retired firefighters, where necessary.While the Home Office has responsibility for overarching policy and legislative changes to the firefighters’ pension scheme regulations, the firefighters’ pension scheme is locally administered by each individual FRA.

What steps the Government is taking (a) to protect the right to peaceful protest and (b) to prevent politically motivated prosecutions against peaceful protesters.

Peaceful protest is a vital part of our democracy. It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to gather and to demonstrate their views, provided that they do so within the law. This Government is committed to protecting and preserving that right.The decision to prosecute an individual is a decision for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), who are operationally independent of Government.

If she will take steps to introduce medal recognition for emergency services personnel injured in the line of duty.

The Home Office is happy to consider proposals for new medals for members of the emergency services who get injured in the line of duty. It is only right that we recognise the sacrifices made by these personnel, and it is important to make sure this is done in a proportionate and effective manner.Any official medal for emergency services personnel is a gift from the Government, on behalf of His Majesty The King to recognise individuals within the service. The creation of a new medal requires cross Government consensus and approval from the Committee on The Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals (“HD Committee”), before advice is put to HM The King to make his final decision.

What funding her Department provided to the (a) Refuge National Domestic Abuse Helpline, (b) National Perpetrator Helpline, (c) Men’s Advice Line, (d) Galop national LGBT+ victims' Helpline, (e) National Stalking Helpline and (f) Revenge Porn Helpline in financial year (i) 2023-24 and (ii) 2024-25.

The Home Office allocated funding to the following organisations in FY2023-24 and FY2024-25:Name of organisationFY2023-24 AllocationFY2024-25 AllocationRefuge - National Domestic Abuse Helpline£2,079,718£1,000,000Respect – Perpetrator Helpline£150,000£150,000Respect – Men's Advice Line£290,000£200,000Galop – LGBT+ Victims Helpline£200,000£200,000Suzy Lamplugh Trust – Stalking Helpline£160,430£160,430South West Grid for London – Revenge Porn Helpline£150,000£150,000Karma Nirvanan – Honour Based Abuse Helpline£165,000£165,000Total£3,195,148£2,025,430The Home Office has allocated funding to Karma Nirvana – Honour Based Abuse Helpline as outlined in the table above.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of proposals to increase the maximum sentence for coercive control beyond five years.

Controlling and coercive behaviour (CCB) is a particularly insidious form of domestic abuse and I recognise the devastating impact that it has on victims.The Ministry of Justice has launched an Independent Review of Sentencing chaired by former Lord Chancellor, David Gauke, which is currently ongoing. The Review will specifically look at offences primarily committed against women and girls, and the Government is dedicated to ensuring that the harm caused by these devastating crimes is appropriately and proportionally reflected in the sentencing framework.Separate to changes in sentencing, through the Victims and Prisoner Act 2024, offenders convicted of coercive or controlling behaviour, who are sentenced to 12 months or more, will soon be automatically managed under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). This change will place serious coercive or controlling behaviour offending on an equal footing with serious and/or violent offenders and create greater consistency in how these domestic abuse offenders are managed in the community. The extra monitoring of offenders, and restrictions which can be placed upon them, via MAPPA management will serve to reduce their risk of reoffending and give greater assurance of safety to previous victims in the coming monthsTackling VAWG in all its forms, including CCB, is a top priority for this Government.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce the processing time for Disclosure and Barring Service checks for people working in the health and social care sector.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is operationally independent from the Home Office and operates to service standards of completing 85% of Basic check applications within 2 days, 85% of Standard check applications within 3 days, and 80% of Enhanced check applications within 14 days.The DBS year to date performance against these targets up to November 2024 is 87.9% for Basic checks, 90.2% for Standard checks, and 75.7% for Enhanced checks. These attainments apply to applications across all employment sectors, including the health and social care sectors.Specific support to the health and social care sectors is provided by the DBS Partnerships Team who have held recent meetings with NHS England, NHS Employers, Skills for Care, Care Quality Commission and Home Care Association, as well as on a regional level with local NHS, local authorities and care providers, about how checks are processed and how to improve the quality of applications submitted to the DBS in order to reduce processing times.The DBS also provides the ‘adult first’ service to employing organisations in the care sector. Under this service, organisations can request a check of the DBS adults’ barred list and, depending on the result, a person can be permitted to start work, under supervision, with vulnerable adults before the result of an Enhanced DBS check.

What plans she has for the Homes for Ukraine Scheme beyond April 2025.

To provide future certainty, Ukrainians who have been provided with sanctuary in the UK under the Ukraine schemes will be able to apply for 18 months further permission to remain in the UK through a bespoke Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme due to open in early 2025.The Homes for Ukraine scheme will also remain open, uncapped and free of charge for Ukrainians to apply to come to the UK.