Written questions by Anderson.

What steps her Department is taking to help tackle antisocial drug smoking.

Tackling anti-social behaviour, including drug misuse, is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.That’s why we have committed to recruiting an additional 13,000 neighbourhood police officers and community support officers by the end of the Parliament and will ensure that residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong. It is unlawful to possess or supply controlled drugs without a Home Office licence and we expect the police to enforce the law.The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to all forms of anti-social behaviour, including drug misuse.

What information her Department holds on where Iranian migrants are being housed in asylum hotels.

The Home Office publishes data on a quarterly basis on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation. The data, which can be broken down by nationality, UK region and accommodation type, is located within Asy_D09 tab of the Immigration statistics data tables - Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK

How many Iranian irregular migrants are currently being housed in hotel accommodation.

The Home Office publishes data on a quarterly basis on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation. The data, which can be broken down by nationality, UK region and accommodation type, is located within Asy_D09 tab of the Immigration statistics data tables - Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK

How much their Department has spent on translating documents into languages other than (a) English and (b) other native UK languages in each year since 2023; and what these languages were.

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.

What steps she is taking to help prevent crimes relating to arson.

The Government is committed to tackling and preventing arson. We know the serious impact that arson can have on both individuals and the wider community.We are committed to ensuring fire services have the resources they need to do their vital work and to keep the public safe from fires, including those caused by arson. We are also delivering on our commitment to restore and strengthen neighbourhood policing, ensuring thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers are out patrolling in our town centres and communities to make the streets safer. As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, £200 million has been allocated to forces for 2025/26 to support this commitment. Nottinghamshire Police has been allocated £3,570,488 and will deliver an increase of 30 police officers, 20 Police Community Support Officers and 20 Special Constables by 31 March 2026.The Home Office is also providing £66.3 million funding in 2025-26 to forces in England and Wales to deliver high visibility patrols in the areas worst affected by knife crime, serious violence and anti-social behaviour, including criminal damage caused by arson. Nottinghamshire Police will receive £1,529,097 of this funding.

What estimate she has made of the number of Irish citizens who will move to the UK as a result of the new route to British citizenship.

The route was created following a Private Members’ Bill introduced to the House of Commons by the Right Honourable Gavin Robinson MP on 6 December 2023. The new route reflects the unique historical and geographical position of Ireland, and existing Common Travel Area arrangements. The Act received Royal Assent on the 24 May 2024.Irish citizens already enjoy settlement rights upon entry to the UK under the provisions of the Common Travel Area.Irish nationals will not be subject to demonstrating Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK. Irish nationals also are already able to demonstrate the language requirement for naturalisation through being nationals of a majority English-speaking country. We recognise that the UK has a unique relationship with Ireland, and the close historical links, geographical proximity and shared experiences between the two countries mean that those in this group would already have a sufficient knowledge of language and life in the UK. The Home Office receives approximately 300-400 applications per year from Irish citizens on existing routes.

What data her Department holds on the number of arson incidents (a) in Ashfield constituency and (b) nationwide in each of the last five years.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of notifiable offences, including arson offences, recorded by the police in England and Wales, at the Police Force Area level and the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) Area level.This information is published on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tablesThe Home Office does not collect information at the Parliamentary Constituency level.

What assessment she has made of the risk of foreign terror cells operating in the UK.

As a matter of long-standing policy, we do not comment on the detail of security and intelligence matters.The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST provides a comprehensive framework for tackling all forms of terrorism and is kept under constant review to ensure our approach remains fit for purpose.

If she will consider lowering the annual turnover criteria in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 for which companies have to produce an annual report on steps taken to prevent modern slavery in (a) operations and (b) supply chains.

The Home Office is currently undertaking a statutory Post-Implementation Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Transparency in Supply Chains) Regulations to assess whether the £36 million total turnover threshold and the definition of total turnover are still appropriate. The conclusion of this review will be published in the Autumn.

What steps she is taking to tackle mobile phone theft.

The Home Secretary has been clear that tackling mobile phone theft is a key priority. In February, the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, local government representatives, leading technology companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves. The Summit resulted in commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the problem, better understand the role of organised crime networks and identify the most effective means of tackling these crimes.The Home Secretary will reconvene the group shortly to review progress made and determine next steps to ensure that the police, technology companies and the Government continues to work together to tackle this criminality.In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. This power will support efforts to recover stolen phones before they can be resold.Through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will also place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles to provide a more visible and effective service to the public, with each neighbourhood having a named, contactable officer dealing with local issues, including the theft of mobile phones.

For what reason her Department has created the new route to British citizenship for Irish citizens.

The route was created following a Private Members’ Bill introduced to the House of Commons by the Right Honourable Gavin Robinson MP on 6 December 2023. The new route reflects the unique historical and geographical position of Ireland, and existing Common Travel Area arrangements. The Act received Royal Assent on the 24 May 2024.Irish citizens already enjoy settlement rights upon entry to the UK under the provisions of the Common Travel Area.Irish nationals will not be subject to demonstrating Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK. Irish nationals also are already able to demonstrate the language requirement for naturalisation through being nationals of a majority English-speaking country. We recognise that the UK has a unique relationship with Ireland, and the close historical links, geographical proximity and shared experiences between the two countries mean that those in this group would already have a sufficient knowledge of language and life in the UK. The Home Office receives approximately 300-400 applications per year from Irish citizens on existing routes.

With reference to the press release entitled New easier British citizenship route for Irish citizens launched, published on 3 July 2025, what estimate she has made of the number of Irish citizens that will apply for British citizenship through this route.

The route was created following a Private Members’ Bill introduced to the House of Commons by the Right Honourable Gavin Robinson MP on 6 December 2023. The new route reflects the unique historical and geographical position of Ireland, and existing Common Travel Area arrangements. The Act received Royal Assent on the 24 May 2024.Irish citizens already enjoy settlement rights upon entry to the UK under the provisions of the Common Travel Area.Irish nationals will not be subject to demonstrating Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK. Irish nationals also are already able to demonstrate the language requirement for naturalisation through being nationals of a majority English-speaking country. We recognise that the UK has a unique relationship with Ireland, and the close historical links, geographical proximity and shared experiences between the two countries mean that those in this group would already have a sufficient knowledge of language and life in the UK. The Home Office receives approximately 300-400 applications per year from Irish citizens on existing routes.

For what reason the new route to British citizenship for Irish citizens has removed the (a) English language knowledge and (b) Life in the UK test requirements.

The route was created following a Private Members’ Bill introduced to the House of Commons by the Right Honourable Gavin Robinson MP on 6 December 2023. The new route reflects the unique historical and geographical position of Ireland, and existing Common Travel Area arrangements. The Act received Royal Assent on the 24 May 2024.Irish citizens already enjoy settlement rights upon entry to the UK under the provisions of the Common Travel Area.Irish nationals will not be subject to demonstrating Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK. Irish nationals also are already able to demonstrate the language requirement for naturalisation through being nationals of a majority English-speaking country. We recognise that the UK has a unique relationship with Ireland, and the close historical links, geographical proximity and shared experiences between the two countries mean that those in this group would already have a sufficient knowledge of language and life in the UK. The Home Office receives approximately 300-400 applications per year from Irish citizens on existing routes.

What data her Department holds on the total value of stock lost through shoplifting in each of the last five years.

The Home Office has published data from the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) which collects data from business premises in England and Wales about their experience of crime.The data includes an assessment, made by the business, of the level of the financial impact of crime they experienced in the previous year as a result of being the victim of crime. This includes incidents theft committed by customers. Separate estimates were published for the retail sector. Data is not collected on the exact value of any goods stolen by customers, or the impact of customer theft separate from other types of crime. The most recent data is from 2023, and can be found here: Crime against businesses statistics - GOV.UKThrough our Safer Streets Mission, we are committed to ensuring that people feel safe on our streets and in their communities. To help tackle retail crime, we will provide £5 million over the next three years to continue to fund Opal, the national policing intelligence unit for serious organised acquisitive crime.We will also invest £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other to prevent and combat crime.Through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We will also end the effective immunity for shop theft of and below £200 sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.

What steps she is taking to ensure that French authorities uphold agreements on stopping asylum seekers attempting to cross the English Channel.

Our current cooperation with France on irregular and illegal migration is underpinned by the commitments made in the UK-France Joint Leaders' Declaration - GOV.UK. Any future agreements will be published in the normal way in due course.

If she will publish the list of geographical areas in which her Department will encourage private landlords to house asylum seekers..

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave him on 23 June to Question 60155.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of notifying residents when asylum seekers are housed in their vicinity.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 23 June to Question 59362.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of informing residents when convicted paedophiles move into local communities.

At present, registered sex offenders are managed under the multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA). Section 327A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 places a duty on MAPPA Responsible Authorities – comprising the police, probation and prison services - in each local criminal justice area to consider disclosing information to members of the public about the previous convictions of any child sex offender managed by the Responsible Authority.Further, the police can and do disclose information regarding child sex offenders (whether MAPPA managed or not) to relevant persons when they believe a child is at risk, utilising their common law disclosure powers as formalised by the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme, also known as ‘Sarah’s Law’.Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we will strengthen the Child Sexual Offender Disclosure scheme by placing it on a statutory footing. This means that chief officers will have a statutory duty to have due regard to the published police guidance.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of abolishing the roles of Police and Crime Commissioner.

As the directly elected representative for policing in their area, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) have an important local role acting as the voice of the public and victims in policing, holding Chief Constables to account and leading local partnerships to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour.In her Written Ministerial Statement of 19 November 2024 (HCWS232), the Home Secretary announced her intention to present a White Paper to Parliament this year on reforms to deliver more effective and efficient policing, to rebuild public confidence and to deliver the Government’s Safer Streets mission. We will consider the role of PCCs in local accountability and preventing crime as part of wider reforms to the policing system and we will set out our plans in due course.

What assessment she has made of the value for money of the Police and Crime Commissioner roles.

As the directly elected representative for policing in their area, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) have an important local role acting as the voice of the public and victims in policing, holding Chief Constables to account and leading local partnerships to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour.In her Written Ministerial Statement of 19 November 2024 (HCWS232), the Home Secretary announced her intention to present a White Paper to Parliament this year on reforms to deliver more effective and efficient policing, to rebuild public confidence and to deliver the Government’s Safer Streets mission. We will consider the role of PCCs in local accountability and preventing crime as part of wider reforms to the policing system and we will set out our plans in due course.