Written questions by Anderson.

What steps the Government is taking to support (a) victims and (b) victims families impacted by grooming gangs; and what steps she is taking to ensure these incidents don't occur in the future.

We have been clear that this Government is prioritising work to safeguard children, ensure victims and survivors are protected and supported, while pursing offenders and bringing them to justice.I have supported, and continue to support, many victims and survivors of grooming gangs and other forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse, both in my capacity as Minister, Member of Parliament and continuing support for those I worked with before becoming an MP.And we are continuing to work across Government and with policing and law enforcement partners at pace to further strengthen our prevention of and response to all forms of child sexual abuse. This includes the commitments the Home Secretary has outlined in Parliament to introduce a mandatory duty for those working with children to report sexual abuse and exploitation, to make grooming an aggravating factor to toughen up sentencing, and to improve data collection across forces.In her statement on 16 January 2025, the Home Secretary announced that the Government will be working to develop a new framework for victim-centred, locally-led inquiries, where they are needed, and as a first step to work with Oldham Council and up to four other pilot areas. This will also include support for local authorities who want to explore other ways of supporting victims, including setting up local panels or drawing on the experience of the IICSA Truth Project.The Home Secretary will also ask all chief constables to look again at historic gang exploitation cases where ‘No Further Action’ was taken, and work with the police Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce to pursue new lines of inquiry and re-open investigations where appropriate and these new measures will be backed by £2 million of additional funding for the taskforce and the panel.In addition to the statutory support local authorities provide to victims of modern slavery, for potential child victims, the Government has rolled out the Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service to two thirds of local authorities in England and Wales. The ICTG service is currently delivered by Barnardo's.

With reference to the press notice entitled More bobbies on the beat as PM puts people's priorities first, published on 4 December 2024, what steps her Department is taking to recruit 13,000 (a) police officers, (b) special constables and (c) Police Community Support Officers by the end of this Parliament.

As part of the Government’s Safer Streets mission, the Home Secretary has made a clear commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing through the introduction of a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee. This includes delivering an additional 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles up and down the country and ensuring every community has a named officer to turn to. Every part of the country benefit from this pledge.£100 million will be made available in 2025/26 to kickstart the recruitment of neighbourhood policing roles.We are working closely with policing to implement this commitment and will announce our plans for the delivery of neighbourhood officers shortly.

What steps her Department is doing to improve counter-terrorism measures.

The UK has one of the strongest counter-terrorism frameworks in the world.Counter-terrorism is a whole of government effort in response to a substantial terrorist threat which is diverse, dynamic and complex. This system is underpinned by the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. CONTEST is a framework covering all types of terrorism. It has remained effective since 2003 and is a flexible and adaptable framework through which we continuously work to improve our delivery. As set out in the latest iteration of the strategy, the Government is making transformational improvements in response to the evolving threat.The entire strategy, including our counter-terrorism powers, terrorist offences and risk management tools are kept under close review to ensure they remain fit for purpose in the context of emerging threats. This is supported through both internal and independent scrutiny, including via the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.

Whether her Department is taking steps to prevent (a) undocumented and (b) illegal migrants in the UK workforce from accessing (i) NHS and (ii) welfare services.

The UK has in place a framework of laws, policies and administrative arrangements to regulate migrant access to work, benefits and services. These measures ensure only those who are lawfully present and with the right to access are able to do so, whilst preventing access for those not entitled.Migrants in the UK without lawful status are subject to a No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition, which prevents them from accessing most publicly funded benefits and services. An individual’s immigration status is checked prior to administering benefits and service. Benefits are either denied or terminated where an individual is subject to an NRPF condition.

What steps her Department is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in social housing.

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 gives social landlords, as well as the police and other frontline agencies a range of powers and tools to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB), and they are expected to use those powers promptly and proportionately, putting the needs of victims at the heart of their response.The Regulator of Social Housing’s Neighbourhood and Community Standard requires registered providers to work with relevant partners to deter and tackle ASB in the neighbourhoods where they provide social housing. Under the new consumer regulation regime, the Regulator proactively seeks assurances that providers are meeting the outcomes set by the regulatory standards.Providers are also required to collect and publish data tenants’ satisfaction with their landlord’s approach to handling anti-social behaviour, which ensures that tenants and other interested parties can hold registered providers to account for the services they provide.

How many foreign nationals released from prison have been deported in each of the last five years.

The Home Office publishes quarterly statistics on the returns of foreign national offenders (FNOs) by nationality and year. These returns are published in the Returns Detailed Datasets, Year Ending June 2024, which are available at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) The published statistics refer to enforced returns which include deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation, and they will be swiftly removed from the country.

How many irregular migrants are housed in Ashfield constituency; what accommodation is used to house those migrants; and what the cost is of housing those migrants.

The Government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly. This includes identifying a range of options to reduce the use of hotels over time and ensuring efficiency and value for money across all accommodation arrangements.The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates asylum accommodation costs by type.Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, by local authority, can be found within the Asy_D11 tab for our most recent stats release: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).The total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts- HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).

What plans her Department has to tackle violence against women and girls in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) Nottinghamshire.

The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable, and we have set out our unprecedented mission to halve it within a decade.Achieving this means overhauling every aspect of society’s response to these devastating crimes.This Government will treat tackling violence against women and girls as a national emergency and we will use every tool to target perpetrators and address the root causes of violence. This includes ensuring that victims can access support services.Last month we unveiled a series of bold measures designed to strengthen the police response to domestic abuse, protect victims and hold perpetrators to account. This includes a new approach named ‘Raneem’s Law’ which will be piloted from early 2025. Reneem’s Law will see domestic abuse specialists embedded in 999 control rooms to advise on risk assessments, work with officers on the ground and ensure that victims are referred to appropriate support services swiftly. We will also seek to create dedicated domestic abuse teams within every police force.In addition, Nottinghamshire PCC has received up to £1m between 2022 and 2025 through the Children Affected by Domestic Abuse Fund. All future decisions on funding will be made in due course as part of the Spending Review.

How many and what proportion of people crossing the Channel have no documentation.

As long has been the case, the Home Office does not publish breakdowns of small boat arrivals by documentation status.

What steps her Department is taking to collaborate with financial institutions to help tackle fraud.

The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime. Close collaboration with industry partners, especially the financial industry, is key to ensure that fraud schemes are disrupted and consumers safeguarded.The Home Office continues a regular dialogue with financial institutions to discuss and implement additional initiatives to combat fraud and protect our citizens. A result of this public-private partnership approach to date have been world-leading schemes such as the Banking Protocol, the Money Mules Action Plan and the Retail Banking Sector Charter. These actions, as well as those in the wider fraud strategy, have contributed to incidences of fraud decreasing by 14% from 2019 levels.The Government will continue to work hand-in-hand with financial institutions as we continue to develop new and innovative ways of protecting the UK public from the threat of fraud.