Written questions by Brickell.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress her Department has made with Cabinet colleagues on resetting the UK's relationship with the European Union.

Our long‑term national interest requires a closer EU partnership, anchored in the Common Understanding and strengthened by new security and defence cooperation.Our Security and Defence Partnership has delivered a step change in engagement, supporting Ukraine through coordinated sanctions, military assistance, training, and resilience.While providing a long‑term framework for practical cooperation that protects our citizens and strengthens Europe’s collective defence.This sits alongside wider progress, including Erasmus+ and negotiations on energy, youth experience, and food and drink.

Media and Sport, if she will publish the modelling that informed the funding split for the Enrichment Expansion Programme.

The Enrichment Expansion Programme (EEP) will invest £22.5 million across 3 years to support up to 400 schools to provide a youth-voice led, tailored enrichment offer.Through the EEP, DCMS is providing £16.8m grant funding to a delivery partner to enhance the coordination of enrichment provision and to support secondary schools to improve their offer.£2.8 million will be allocated separately to school grants to cover staff costs associated with improving their enrichment offer.The funding requirement has been benchmarked against related enrichment programmes.

Media and Sport, if she will make a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of allocating £22.5 million under the Enrichment Expansion Programme (a) across up to 400 schools and (b) via a single national delivery partner.

The Enrichment Expansion Programme (EEP) will invest £22.5 million across 3 years to support up to 400 schools to provide a youth-voice led, tailored enrichment offer.Through the EEP, DCMS is providing £16.8m grant funding to a delivery partner to enhance the coordination of enrichment provision and to support secondary schools to improve their offer.£2.8 million will be allocated separately to school grants to cover staff costs associated with improving their enrichment offer.The funding requirement has been benchmarked against related enrichment programmes.

Whether her Department will respond to the recommendations in both part one and part two of the Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences by Jonathan Fisher KC.

The Government has received the Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offence’s second report, Fraud in the Digital Age, and will publish it in due course.The Government plans to respond to the Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offence’s first Report, Disclosure in the Digital Age, by publishing a formal Government Response in due course.

Whether her Department is still committed to publishing part two of the Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences by Jonathan Fisher KC.

The Government has received the Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offence’s second report, Fraud in the Digital Age, and will publish it in due course.The Government plans to respond to the Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offence’s first Report, Disclosure in the Digital Age, by publishing a formal Government Response in due course.

If she will publish a list of companies which provided AI services to Police Forces and the National Crime Agency between January 2025 - January 2026.

The Home Office provides funding, guidance and national support to encourage the responsible adoption of AI across policing, but procurement is undertaken directly by forces to meet local operational needs. This reflects the fact that operational decisions, including commercial arrangements for policing tools, are a matter for operationally independent Chief Constables and law enforcement agencies rather than Ministers.As a result, the Home Office does not hold a central record of individual contracts or suppliers used by police forces or the National Crime Agency, including where AI services have been procured to support asset recovery or other law enforcement activity.The Police Reform White Paper, published in January, set out the UK Government’s commitment to strengthen transparency around police use of AI. Through the establishment of the National Centre for AI in Policing and an investment of £115 million over the next 3 years, the UK Government will support the identification, testing and responsible scaling of AI technologies. As part of this the AI Centre will publish and maintain a public facing registry of the AI tools being deployed by police forces, alongside information on the steps taken to test and evaluate those tools prior to operational use, helping to build and maintain public confidence in policing’s use of AI.

If she will provide a breakdown of the value of assets recovered through confiscation, forfeiture and civil recovery orders between April 2025 - October 2025.

The annual publication covering the assets recovered through different types of powers including confiscation, forfeiture and civil recovery orders for the financial year 2025/2026, including April 2025 - October 2025, has been pre-announced and will be released in September 2026.The official statistical announcement can be found here: Asset recovery statistics: financial years ending 2020 to 2026 - Official statistics announcement - GOV.UK.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of establishing a multi-year ringfenced Economic Crime Fighting Fund to help ensure that assets recovered from the proceeds of crime and from related fines are reinvested into law enforcement agencies.

The Government recognises the significant harm caused by economic crime and remains fully committed to ensuring that law enforcement agencies have the resources they need to tackle this threat effectively.The Home Office already provides substantial and sustained funding for economic crime enforcement through existing mechanisms, including the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS) and the Economic Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) Levy. ARIS enables a proportion of recovered assets to be reinvested directly into frontline asset recovery work, while the Levy provides multi‑year funding to strengthen anti‑money laundering capabilities across the system. The Levy provides a sustainable source of funding to tackle economic crime, and was raised at Budget 2025 to provide an additional c.£110m annually.In December 2025, the Government published its Anti‑Corruption Strategy, which sets out a whole of government approach to tackling corruption, illicit finance and kleptocracy. The Strategy includes a clear commitment to explore options for strengthening economic crime funding, recognising the importance of sustainable resourcing to deliver these objectives. The Government will publish the new Economic Crime Plan 2026–29 in Summer 2026, bringing together the Government’s economic crime strategies in a single strategic framework and setting out its approach to sustainable funding.

If she will provide a list of the companies her Department had contracts with between January 2025 - January 2026 to develop AI-powered tools that assist law enforcement in the recovery of the proceeds of crime.

The Home Office provides funding, guidance and national support to encourage the responsible adoption of AI across policing, but procurement is undertaken directly by forces to meet local operational needs. This reflects the fact that operational decisions, including commercial arrangements for policing tools, are a matter for operationally independent Chief Constables and law enforcement agencies rather than Ministers.As a result, the Home Office does not hold a central record of individual contracts or suppliers used by police forces or the National Crime Agency, including where AI services have been procured to support asset recovery or other law enforcement activity.The Police Reform White Paper, published in January, set out the UK Government’s commitment to strengthen transparency around police use of AI. Through the establishment of the National Centre for AI in Policing and an investment of £115 million over the next 3 years, the UK Government will support the identification, testing and responsible scaling of AI technologies. As part of this the AI Centre will publish and maintain a public facing registry of the AI tools being deployed by police forces, alongside information on the steps taken to test and evaluate those tools prior to operational use, helping to build and maintain public confidence in policing’s use of AI.

What the (a) annual budget and (b) number of staff was for the Crown Prosecution Service Specialist Fraud Division in each of the last five years.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cannot provide the annual budget and number of staff for the Specialist Fraud Division (SFD) in each of the last five years. Some organisational restructuring to meet the challenges posed by the evolving nature of crime was required at the end of 22/23, leading to SFD becoming subsumed by the multidisciplinary Serious Economic, Organised Crime and International Directorate (SEOCID).

What the (a) annual budget and (b) number of staff was for the Crown Prosecution Service Specialist Proceeds of Crime unit in each of the last five years.

The annual budget and number of staff for the Crown Prosecution Service Proceeds of Crime Division in each of the last five years are as follows:Financial Year (FY) endingAnnual BudgetHeadcount FY22*Not available205 FY23£15,475,337200 FY24£17,276,740229 FY25£20,293,788249 FY26£23,090,634261 *Historical figures from the CPS financial planning system Anaplan do not date back to FY22

How much and what proportion of the budget for the international corruption unit within the National Crime Agency came from (a) Official Development Assistance through the UK Action Against Corruption Programme and (b) other non-aid funding sources in financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26; and what work was funded by non-aid funding sources.

The International Corruption Unit receives approximately 76% of its funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s ‘Official Development Assistance’ budget.ODA funds are used in accordance with the conditions set out by the FCDO which include a focus on ‘priority countries’.The FCDO publishes details of UKACT funding online here: https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/programme/GB-GOV-1-300597/summary

If she provide a breakdown of the value of the assets recovered from the five Unexplained Wealth Orders that were obtained in 2024-2025.

Of the five unexplained wealth orders reported in the 2024-2025 annual report, two have so far resulted in asset recovery outcomes.In one case, following an order obtained by the Serious Fraud Office, a property identified in the order was sold for £1.1 million.In a separate case, the National Crime Agency reached a settlement with the defendant, Binghai Su, which is expected to result in the recovery of around £20 million once forfeited assets are sold.

When her department will publish its new Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery (AMLAR) strategy.

Following the completion of Economic Crime Plan 2, the Government will publish its new Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery (AMLAR) Strategy this summer. The strategy is being developed jointly by the Home Office, HM Treasury and in close partnership with the private sector, and will set out a series of ambitious measures to strengthen the UK’s response to money laundering and improve our approach to asset recovery.The AMLAR Strategy will be published alongside the new Economic Crime Plan 2026–29, which will bring together the Government’s economic crime strategies in a single strategic framework and drive forward key cross‑cutting initiatives.

What the (a) annual budget and (b) number of staff was for HMRC's Fraud Investigation Service in each of the last five years.

HMRC does not routinely publish annual budget or staffing figures for the Fraud Investigation Service.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to publish the findings of the urgent review into foreign financial interference in politics in their entirety.

In December, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government announced an independent review into countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics. The review findings will be delivered to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Security Minister by the end of March 2026.The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government will ensure that Mr Rycroft’s report is made available to Parliament at the earliest opportunity after it is received.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that the introduction of mandatory online booking systems does not mean the withdrawal of other options such as face to face receptions and phone calls.

National Health Service organisations must ensure that all patients have equitable access to care, and that decisions or policies do not unfairly disadvantage people or lead to an increase in inequalities. All NHS organisations are legally obliged to not discriminate against patients or staff. This means that a non-digital solution should be available for those patients who cannot or do not wish to engage digitally, including those with mental health conditions or language barriers. These non-digital routes must be available for all services provided by NHS organisations.

Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Advertising Standards Authority on the print size of the costs of phone lines on advertising in relation to the main body of the advertisement.

My Department meets regularly with representatives of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on a range of matters.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the independent regulator for advertising in the UK and enforces the ‘CAP Code’ and ‘BCAP Code’, which set the standards for non-broadcast and broadcast advertising, respectively. These codes include specific rules intended to protect consumers from misleading marketing communications. If advertising includes the omission, exaggeration, or ambiguous presentation of information, for example in relation to prices, it can be considered misleading.Further, Ofcom has overall responsibility for the regulation of non-geographic service numbers and premium rate services. Organisations using these numbers in broadcast and non-broadcast advertising must ensure that the service charge is displayed prominently and in close proximity to the number itself.

What steps his department is taking to ensure that publicly available court information is not fragmented or incomplete, in the context of the deletion of the court desk archive.

There has been no deletion of the Courtsdesk archive of courts lists. Courtdesk does not hold courts records. We recognise that the ability for journalists to access and search courts lists in a single place is helpful. We are doing three things to improve the way in which magistrates’ and Crown court lists are made available. First, we have launched a market engagement exercise for new providers to apply to reuse our data under a new licensing regime (which would be open to Courtsdesk to apply for). Second, we have met Courtsdesk with a view to potentially re-establishing their service, provided they can demonstrate they will comply with data protection requirements. Third, by the end of March we will be expanding the Court and Tribunal Hearings (CaTH) service, an online portal which allows journalists, professional users and the public to access and search court-related information, to include magistrates’ and Crown court lists alongside the civil, family and tribunal hearing lists already published.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed police reforms on the integration of Mayoral Combined Authorities and Police and Crime Commissioners.

The Police Reform White Paper, published on 26 January 2026, represents the most significant reforms to policing in England and Wales since the service was professionalised nearly 200 years ago. Proposals will focus local forces on local crime, while strengthening our ability to tackle serious and organised crime and threats to national security by creating a new national force, the National Police Service. The White Paper also sets out an ambition to significantly reduce the number of police forces by the end of the next Parliament.As part of these reforms, the Police and Crime Commissioner Model will be abolished at the end of their current term of office in May 2028. We will transfer policing governance to mayors of strategic authorities wherever possible, or to elected council leaders where it is not, through Policing and Crime Boards.