Every parliamentary written question tabled by Peter Lamb this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 1–4 of 4 · Home Office
What steps she is taking to reduce the time taken for the payment of refunds from her Department.
UK Visas and Immigration have a range of customer service teams and processes in place to support customers where they may require a refund.These teams ensure that refunds are made in a timely fashion and in line with the policies and procedures linked to the individual visa service that has been paid for.
What steps her Department is taking to (a) combat spiking offences and (b) support victims.
Spiking is an abhorrent crime and illegal in any form, whether through food or drink, vape, or needle. It can affect anyone, at any time and in any setting, regardless of gender, sexuality or age.We are taking a range of action to tackle spiking and provide better support for victims:In line with our manifesto commitment, the Government has introduced new legislation on spiking, as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, to strengthen the response to these appalling incidents.We continue to provide free training for staff in the hospitality sector to understand and tackle spiking, provide better support for victims, and assist police with evidence collection. This is being delivered by our partner Red Snapper Learning.We are funding two weeks of increased policing activity on spiking with the aims of raising awareness, encouraging reporting, and gathering more evidence to support spiking prosecutions. The first week was on the week commencing 15 September to align with University Freshers weeks. The second week will be in December.From April 2026, we will be enhancing how the police record and report spiking crimes with the aim of improving both the quality and quantity of data.The Home Office is continuing to fund research into the efficacy of rapid urine testing kits.We are also exploring options to enhance and make more convenient the process for collecting and processing urine samples from spiking victims.
What steps her Department is taking to tackle violence against women and girls.
Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government with a manifesto mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.We will deliver a cross-government transformative approach, underpinned by a new strategy which we will publish as soon as possible.In advance of the strategy, we have already introduced measures designed to strengthen the police response to VAWG, protect victims and hold perpetrators to account.These include: funding to rollout Drive Project, a proven intervention for high-risk and high-harm domestic abuse perpetrators across England and Wales; embedding the first domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms in five police forces; measures to tackle spiking to strengthen the law and improve the response victims receive, including committing to introducing a new criminal offence for spiking and piloting new spiking training for bar staff; measures focusing on preventing and tackling ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA), developing a statutory definition for HBA, community engagement campaigns, enhanced training and funding for support services; six measures to tackle stalking including statutory guidance to empower the police to release the identities of online stalkers to protect victims, and a review of the stalking legislation to ensure it is fit for purpose; and launching the new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in selected police forces and courts which go further than any existing orders.
What estimate she has made of the Chagossian population residing in (a) the UK, (b) Mauritius, (c) the Seychelles and (d) all other countries; and how many Chagossians not residing in the UK have applied for British citizenship through the (i) British Indian Oceans Territory citizenship registration route and (ii) other routes, broken down by the country in which each applicant lived at the time of application.
The information requested is not held by the Home Office.However, the overall number of applications for British citizenship including those made through the British Indian Ocean Territory route is available on:Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.