Written questions by Timothy.

Pursuant to the oral answer of 26 November 2025, Official Report, House of Lords, Column 1331, on West Midlands Police: Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans, what information her Department holds on whether (a) the Muslim Brotherhood and (b) other organisations subject to Government non-engagement shared information with West Midlands Police in relation to the Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League game of 6 November 2025.

The Home Office will make public the findings from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services on the information and intelligence used by West Midlands Police to assess and categorise the Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv match on 6 November, and how accurately this reflected intelligence received from the Netherlands Police, as soon as this is provided.The Home Office does not hold any information on whether the Muslim Brotherhood or other organisations subject to government non-engagement shared information with West Midlands Police in relation to this match.Similarly, the Home Office does not hold any information on discussions between West Midlands Police and the Metropolitan Police, MI5, Cabinet Office, or the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre in relation to this match.A reply to the Honourable Member for West Suffolk’s letter of 2 January 2026 will be sent in due course.Section 40 of the Police Act 1996 enables the Home Secretary to direct a PCC or Mayor where a force is failing, in exceptional circumstances.The power for the Home Secretary to require a police authority to call on a Chief Constable to retire was removed through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 and the power to dismiss Chief Constables now rests with Police and Crime Commissioners.The Home Secretary has already taken action and commissioned HMICFRS to review the information and intelligence used by West Midlands Police.The findings from this are due to be provided on 12 January.

Whether the Undersea Infrastructure Security (UIS) Oversight Board report to ministers in (a) his department, and (b) other government departments.

The senior official-level Undersea Infrastructure Security Oversight Board will escalate issues to Cabinet Office ministers and the National Security Council as required.

Pursuant to the oral answer of 26 November 2025, Official Report, House of Lords, Column 1331, on West Midlands Police: Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of giving directions under Section 40 of the Police Act 1996 to dismiss the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police.

The Home Office will make public the findings from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services on the information and intelligence used by West Midlands Police to assess and categorise the Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv match on 6 November, and how accurately this reflected intelligence received from the Netherlands Police, as soon as this is provided.The Home Office does not hold any information on whether the Muslim Brotherhood or other organisations subject to government non-engagement shared information with West Midlands Police in relation to this match.Similarly, the Home Office does not hold any information on discussions between West Midlands Police and the Metropolitan Police, MI5, Cabinet Office, or the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre in relation to this match.A reply to the Honourable Member for West Suffolk’s letter of 2 January 2026 will be sent in due course.Section 40 of the Police Act 1996 enables the Home Secretary to direct a PCC or Mayor where a force is failing, in exceptional circumstances.The power for the Home Secretary to require a police authority to call on a Chief Constable to retire was removed through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 and the power to dismiss Chief Constables now rests with Police and Crime Commissioners.The Home Secretary has already taken action and commissioned HMICFRS to review the information and intelligence used by West Midlands Police. The findings from this are due to be provided on 12 January.

Pursuant to the oral answer of 26 November 2025, Official Report, House of Lords, Column 1331, on West Midlands Police: Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans, what information her Department holds on discussions between West Midlands Police and (a) the Metropolitan Police, (b) MI5, (c) Cabinet Office and (d) the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre on the Ajax v Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League game in November 2024.

The Home Office will make public the findings from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services on the information and intelligence used by West Midlands Police to assess and categorise the Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv match on 6 November, and how accurately this reflected intelligence received from the Netherlands Police, as soon as this is provided.The Home Office does not hold any information on whether the Muslim Brotherhood or other organisations subject to government non-engagement shared information with West Midlands Police in relation to this match.Similarly, the Home Office does not hold any information on discussions between West Midlands Police and the Metropolitan Police, MI5, Cabinet Office, or the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre in relation to this match.A reply to the Honourable Member for West Suffolk’s letter of 2 January 2026 will be sent in due course.Section 40 of the Police Act 1996 enables the Home Secretary to direct a PCC or Mayor where a force is failing, in exceptional circumstances.The power for the Home Secretary to require a police authority to call on a Chief Constable to retire was removed through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 and the power to dismiss Chief Constables now rests with Police and Crime Commissioners.The Home Secretary has already taken action and commissioned HMICFRS to review the information and intelligence used by West Midlands Police.The findings from this are due to be provided on 12 January.

When she plans to publish the report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services on the intelligence gathered by West Midlands Police on the Ajax v Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League game in November 2024.

The Home Office will make public the findings from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services on the information and intelligence used by West Midlands Police to assess and categorise the Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv match on 6 November, and how accurately this reflected intelligence received from the Netherlands Police, as soon as this is provided.The Home Office does not hold any information on whether the Muslim Brotherhood or other organisations subject to government non-engagement shared information with West Midlands Police in relation to this match.Similarly, the Home Office does not hold any information on discussions between West Midlands Police and the Metropolitan Police, MI5, Cabinet Office, or the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre in relation to this match.A reply to the Honourable Member for West Suffolk’s letter of 2 January 2026 will be sent in due course.Section 40 of the Police Act 1996 enables the Home Secretary to direct a PCC or Mayor where a force is failing, in exceptional circumstances.The power for the Home Secretary to require a police authority to call on a Chief Constable to retire was removed through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 and the power to dismiss Chief Constables now rests with Police and Crime Commissioners.The Home Secretary has already taken action and commissioned HMICFRS to review the information and intelligence used by West Midlands Police.The findings from this are due to be provided on 12 January.

If he will publish the (a) terms of reference and (b) membership of the Undersea Infrastructure Security Oversight Board.

The Undersea Infrastructure Security Oversight Board provides a joined-up function and sets strategic direction across government on undersea infrastructure security. The core membership includes key government stakeholders with an interest in undersea infrastructure security. This includes representation from DSIT, DESNZ, MOD, Defra, DFT, Home Office, Royal Navy and others as required. It is chaired and convened by the Cabinet Office.

Pursuant to the Answer of 24 December to Question 96893, when she will publish the aggregated information on programme-level performance measures and key performance indicators for RISE advisors.

This government is focused on driving high and rising standards through our Plan for Change, to enable every child to achieve and thrive.Our targeted RISE programme is ensuring schools who need it most are getting the support they need to improve. We will publish an interim process evaluation report in the spring, but we are continuing to evaluate and listening to a range of feedback directly informing the program. We will publish further process evaluation interim reports and expect to publish a final process evaluation report in 2028.

With reference to written statement HCWS1163 made on 15 December 2025, how much government funding has been given to date to each of the 28 mainstream free school projects ahead of their cancellation.

The department provides capital funding for the acquisition of sites/land and the construction of free schools. Where sites have been secured, details and costs of acquisitions will be set out on the Land Registry website. The department also publishes contract details and costs for all free school projects on Contracts Finder.

How many foreign nationals have had their visas revoked since 2010, broken down by type of grounds for refusal.

The Home Office do not currently publish data in relation to decisions to cancel permission to enter or permission to stay. The information requested can’t be obtained without disproportionate cost.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential level of overlap of proposals for appointing Public Safety Commissioners in mayoralties with the position of Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime.

Where a mayor is responsible for Police and Crime Commissioner functions, they must appoint a Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, who works with them to oversee policing. Where mayors are also responsible for fire and rescue, they can delegate this to the DMPC. This means one individual can lead on policing and fire.The Public Safety Commissioner (PSC) will be a new optional appointment, whose role would be to lead on the ‘public safety’ area of competence for a mayor, including matters beyond policing and fire. They could be delegated fire functions but not policing.This gives mayors a choice on how to best deliver public safety in their area. They could delegate all their public safety functions to the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime or appoint a separate Public Safety Commissioner to manage non-policing functions, such as fire.

How many local authority presumption free schools have been established since central applications were closed last year, broken down by (a), primary, (b) secondary, (c) post-16, and (d) special schools.

The number of free schools that have been opened through the free school presumption process since July 2024 is as follows:Primary23Secondary0All-through1Post-160Special8Alternative provision1 For comparison, the number of presumption free schools that were established in the previous academic year (2023/24) was:Primary12Secondary0All-through1Post-160Special1Alternative provision0

How many foreign nationals have been excluded from the UK since 2010, broken down by type of grounds for refusal.

The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK’. Data on visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D01’ whilst data on outcomes of visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance visas dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from January 2005 up to the end of September 2025. Please note that data on refusals by reason is not available from published statistics.

What evidential basis her Department is using to promote internal SEND units for pupils with specialist needs in mainstream schools.

This government is committed to encouraging schools and local authorities to set up resourced provision and special educational needs (SEN) units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.The department has carried out wide stakeholder engagement and reviewed the existing evidence base, including academic literature, public datasets and third-party reports.We know there are many great examples of mainstream schools delivering specialist provision through resourced provision and SEN units. They have an important role to play in a more inclusive mainstream system, enabling children to achieve and thrive in a mainstream school.We are committed to building the evidence base. For example, the ‘What Works in SEND’ programme is undertaking a research project on SEN units and resourced provision, including a systematic review of existing UK and international literature and research into operational models in primary and secondary schools in England.The department is also working with the Council for Disabled Children and the National Association for Special Educational Needs to develop guidance to help mainstream settings deliver high quality support for children accessing SEN units, resourced provision, and pupil support units.

If she will publish in full the data held by the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) database.

The department does not have plans to publish in full the data held in the Longitudinal Education Outcomes database.The database contains the sensitive personal information of UK citizens. It would be a breach of the public trust and UK General Data Protection Regulations 2018 legislation to publish it in full.However, the department routinely publishes a wide range of statistical information drawn from the data. The department also makes the data available for research in the public interest through the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service. Further information on how to access the data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-to-access-the-longitudinal-education-outcomes-leo-dataset.

Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to include experiments inducing sepsis in animals in her strategy on phasing out animal testing.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 1 December 2025 to Question UIN 94115.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Environment Agency's implementation timeline for the waste registration and accreditation system.

The packaging regulations provide the Environment Agency (EA) with a statutory 12-week period to determine applications for reprocessor & exporter registration and accreditation applications. In a small number of cases the determination period is going beyond this 12-week period for applications under the new 2026 packaging regulations. This is due to increased application queries and embedding the new requirements to ensure all applications are consistently assessed. The EA will back date registrations and accreditations to 1 January 2026. The EA does not anticipate that these delays will continue and has a plan to determine all applications as promptly as possible.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the allocation of resources between (a) enforcement activities targeting businesses that are compliant with the law and (b) investigations into fraudulent activities in the packaging waste sector.

The Government has shown its continued support to the Environment Agency (EA) by committing £12 million for the EA to fight waste crime this year. The EA received £3 million for 2025/26 to enforce new duties introduced this year including the new simpler recycling regulations and expanding the Packaging Producer Responsibility requirements. The EA funds its compliance activities on a cost recovery basis. Its compliance work is driven by an intelligence-led and risk-based approach. Where compliance assessments identify non-compliance, then appropriate enforcement actions will follow in line with the EA’s published Enforcement and Sanctions Policy.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has received representations from businesses on the time taken for registrations for the waste registration and accreditation scheme.

Yes. The department has received representations from businesses. Officials are working at pace to resolve outstanding issues as we transition to new registration and accreditation requirements. Impacted businesses are being contacted by the Environment Agency and where necessary arrangements are being put in place on a case-by-case basis to minimise any impacts.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Environment Agency is taking to prevent packaging recovery note fraud.

The Environment Agency (EA) works hard to tackle waste crime and free riders (market operators who circumvent Extended Producer Responsibility, breaking the law, and exploiting the system to avoid fees) in the waste sector, gathering intelligence to identify unregistered producers, helping to detect illegal activity and preventing fraud. A dedicated EA team is focused on identifying and pursuing non-compliant companies and already the EA has brought over 840 suspected non-compliant companies or free riders into full compliance. The EA is intent on using its tougher enforcement powers in pEPR to reduce offending and it will continue to prioritise and investigate free riders to bring them into compliance in the waste sector, applying the 4P enforcement model (prepare, prevent, protect and pursue).

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the level of Packaging Recovery Note fraud in 2025.

The Environment Agency is aware of this challenge and is exploring ways to address the acknowledged issue, including changing the way it measures waste crime. The value of recovery notes varies according to the waste type and market trends. Since 2023 the value of most Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) and Packaging Export Recovery Notes has decreased.