Written questions by Lowe.

Pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2025 to question 22422 on Offences Against Children, whether this information is held by her Department.

The information requested by the Hon Member is not currently held by the Department but we are committed to improving the collection and publication of data in this area, as confirmed by the Home Secretary in her statements to Parliament on the 6th and 16th January. That important work is in train and further details will be confirmed in due course.

Pursuant to the answer of 21 January 2025 to Question 22429 on Offences against Children, whether her Department holds information on the number of (a) police officers, (b) officials of local authorities and (c) social workers that (i) lost their jobs, (ii) faced legal proceedings and (iii) suffered other punitive measures due to having knowledge of Pakistani heritage grooming gangs and not taking action.

The information requested by the Hon Member is not currently held by the Department but we are committed to improving the collection and publication of data in this area, as confirmed by the Home Secretary in her statements to Parliament on the 6th and 16th January. That important work is in train and further details will be confirmed in due course.

Pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2025 to Question 22424 on Offences Against Children: Prosecutions, whether her Department holds information on whether family members (a) had knowledge of or (b) facilitated the crimes of people prosecuted for their involvement in Pakistani heritage grooming gangs.

The information requested by the Hon Member is not currently held by the Department but we are committed to improving the collection and publication of data in this area, as confirmed by the Home Secretary in her statements to Parliament on the 6th and 16th January. That important work is in train and further details will be confirmed in due course.

Pursuant to the Answer of 21 January to question 22418 on Offences against Children, whether this information is held by her Department.

The information requested by the Hon Member is not currently held by the Department but we are committed to improving the collection and publication of data in this area, as confirmed by the Home Secretary in her statements to Parliament on the 6th and 16th January. That important work is in train and further details will be confirmed in due course.

Pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2025 to question 22421 on Offences Against Children, whether this information is held by her Department.

The information requested by the Hon Member is not currently held by the Department but we are committed to improving the collection and publication of data in this area, as confirmed by the Home Secretary in her statements to Parliament on the 6th and 16th January. That important work is in train and further details will be confirmed in due course.

What the total cost to the public purse was of penalty payments to people who faced delays in the processing of their immigration case in each of the last five years.

Immigration Enforcement, UK Visas & Immigration and Border Force occasionally make ex-gratia payments to customers, beyond any legal or statutory requirements, as redress for maladministration. These payments are made at the discretion of the Home Office and depend on the individual circumstances of each complaint.Details of these payments are not routinely published and could only be collated for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Pursuant to the Answer of 20 January to Question 23582 on Undocumented Migrants, what information her Department holds on the number of irregular migrants defined as absconders.

The requested data is not readily accessible from published statistics, and could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at a disproportionate cost.Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.

How many citizenships were granted to refugees in each of the last ten years.

The publicly available immigration statistics for the last 10 years include statistics for naturalisation as a British citizen for all relevant routes of entry. Migration transparency data - GOV.UK

Pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2025 to Question 23578 on Undocumented Migrants, if she will make an estimate of the number of irregular migrants in the UK.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer I gave on 15 January to Question UIN 22990.

How many British citizenships were removed; what other citizenships were held by people impacted; and what the reason was for removal in each of the last five years.

Detail on the numbers of conducive deprivation orders made under Section 40(2) of the 1981 British Nationality Act, are published in the Government Transparency Report: Disruptive and Investigatory Powers. Eight reports have been published to date providing the number of deprivations of citizenship orders made up until the end of 2023 and can be found at the below links:2015 - HM government transparency report 2015: disruptive and investigatory powers2017 - Disruptive and investigatory powers: HM government transparency report - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)2018 - Disruptive and investigatory powers: transparency report 2018 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)2018/19 - Transparency report: disruptive powers 2018 to 2019 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)2020 - Disruptive powers 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)2021 - Counter-terrorism disruptive powers report 2021 - GOV.UK2022 - Counter-terrorism disruptive powers report 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)2023 - Counter-terrorism disruptive powers report 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)More recent data will be published in future publications in relation to deprivation of British citizenship 40(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981.The published data as referenced above does not include information on other citizenships held by those impacted or on the specific reasons for deprivation. To obtain that information would involve a manual interrogation of case files at a disproportionate cost.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2024 to Question 23051 on Offences against Children, whether this information is held by her Department.

The information previously requested by the Rt Hon Member is not held by the Department. The Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce currently holds the best data available on police-recorded child sexual abuse and exploitation crimes, including group-based offending. And the Government has committed to improving our understanding of this offending, including on the data collected and published.The £10million funding announced by the Home Secretary in her 16 January statement to Parliament will contribute to taking forward our strengthened response to child sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as driving change at a local level. We are providing stronger national support for local inquiries, by providing £5million of funding to help local councils set up their own reviews. Funding will be made available to support Oldham and four other areas to pilot new approaches and conduct their own reviews. £2.5m will enable the increase of investigations, including through the Child Sexual Abuse Police Taskforce, and £2.5m will contribute to the implementation of the Home Secretary's other announcements, including the new Victims and Survivor Panel, and the Baroness Casey audit.We will continue to work at pace to prioritise protecting more children, finding more criminals, and getting justice for more victims and survivors.

With reference to her oral statement on Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of 16 January 2024, Official Report, column 560, how the £10 million will be spent.

The information previously requested by the Rt Hon Member is not held by the Department. The Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce currently holds the best data available on police-recorded child sexual abuse and exploitation crimes, including group-based offending. And the Government has committed to improving our understanding of this offending, including on the data collected and published.The £10million funding announced by the Home Secretary in her 16 January statement to Parliament will contribute to taking forward our strengthened response to child sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as driving change at a local level. We are providing stronger national support for local inquiries, by providing £5million of funding to help local councils set up their own reviews. Funding will be made available to support Oldham and four other areas to pilot new approaches and conduct their own reviews. £2.5m will enable the increase of investigations, including through the Child Sexual Abuse Police Taskforce, and £2.5m will contribute to the implementation of the Home Secretary's other announcements, including the new Victims and Survivor Panel, and the Baroness Casey audit.We will continue to work at pace to prioritise protecting more children, finding more criminals, and getting justice for more victims and survivors.

What the is value is of (a) Bitcoin and (b) other cryptocurrency held by the Government.

The Government does not hold any cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) contains powers to deprive criminals of their money, or other property connected to criminal activity, and recover the proceeds of crime, including cryptocurrencies. As with all assets, action to seize, recover and manage cryptoassets is for independent law enforcement bodies and the courts to consider.We do not routinely publish the amount recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 by asset type. We publish annual statistics on the amount of proceeds of crime confiscated and recovered as detailed on GOV.UK Asset recovery statistics: financial years ending 2019 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

What proportion of asylum casework interviews are conducted remotely.

Most asylum interviews are now conducted remotely using video conference facilities outside of Home Office locations.This has enabled the Home Office to increase the availability of interview locations, interpreters and decision makers, and often reduce travel requirements for claimants, enabling the department to progress cases in a more efficient and cost-effective way.Further information regarding the conduct of asylum interviews is available on gov.uk at: Conducting asylum interviews: caseworker guidance - GOV.UK.

What data her Department collects on child grooming activities online.

The Home Office has access to a variety of data sources on child sexual abuse, which covers grooming both offline and online.ONS publishes information on the number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, on a quarterly basis, which can be accessed here: Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics.Police recorded crime covers a range of offences that are classed as child sexual abuse and exploitation. Child grooming offences could be recorded against several offence codes such as grooming; abuse of children through sexual exploitation; and obscene publications offences which include indecent images of children offences.

What the (a) nationality, (b) ethnicity, (c) gender and (d) age is of the victims of Pakistani heritage grooming gangs.

The Government continues to invest in a range of work to strengthen law enforcement capacity and capability to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, including group-based offending. We support the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce, which has a continuous professional development offer for police forces, aiming to upskill forces and improve the investigative response to child sexual exploitation, including group-based offending. We also invest in the Prevention Programme, delivered by The Children’s Society, which works to raise awareness of child exploitation, including child sexual exploitation, through upskilling safeguarding staff at all levels and improving local system responses to child exploitation. This includes working closely with local policing partners.The Government also remains committed to continuing close collaboration with international partners to establish common global standards, share best practice and insights, and build international capacity to combat these horrific crimes.To preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lord Chief Justice (LCJ), the Senior President of Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College.Further to my previous response, the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce has brought together the best police data that is currently available on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, in its publication of November 2024.I refer the Rt Hon Member to The Home Secretary’s statement on 16 January, which set out the actions the Government is taking forward to improve our response to and understand of child sexual exploitation and abuse that is committed by Pakistani heritage grooming gangs. This includes improving the data available on the perpetration of these crimes, as part of which the Home Secretary has asked the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce to expand the ethnicity data it collects and publishes – in particular by gathering data from the end of the investigation when a fuller picture is available.The Home Secretary is also appointing Baroness Louise Casey to lead a rapid three-month audit to improve our understanding of the scale, nature and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse at a national and local level, including what is known about the demographics of perpetrators and victims, and to make recommendations on what additional action is needed to improve our response.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to require more (a) frequent and (b) detailed checks on the immigration status of licenced taxi drivers.

The Government sets the regulatory structure within which local licensing authorities license the private hire vehicle (PHV) and taxi sector. The primary function of licensing authorities is to ensure that the sector is safe, including defining the criteria that must be met when deciding whether a person is 'fit and proper' to hold a licence.The Immigration Act 2016 introduced a legal responsibility on licensing authorities not to issue licences in the PHV and taxi sector to those individuals who are disqualified from holding a licence due to their immigration status. Therefore, all licensing authorities in the UK are required to carry out right to work checks during the licence application process to ensure applicants are not disqualified from holding a licence due to their immigration status. The check must be performed when the applicant applies for a licence, or applies to renew or extend their licence, whether for the full statutory term or for a lesser period.

What the nationalities were of illegal migrants removed since 2018.

The Home Office publishes statistics on returns from the UK in the ‘Immigration System Statistics quarterly release’.Data on enforced and voluntary returns from the UK, including the breakdown by nationality can be found in Ret_D01 of the ‘Returns detailed datasets’. This data covers the period 2004 to September 2024.Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question 18440 on Visas: Families, whether her Department collects data on the immigration status of sponsors for family visa applications.

There are a number of different family application routes including partner, parent, child and adult dependent relative and the immigration status requirements vary depending on the route. We routinely check the immigration status of those who sponsor family applications for permission to enter or stay in the UK when deciding an application, but there is no centrally maintained record of that data.A range of processing and decision data, which includes data on family visa applications, can be found at: Immigration system statistics data tables – https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables and Migration transparency data: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data.

What training programmes there are for (a) law enforcement and (b) judicial officers to (i) identify and (ii) tackle grooming gang activities.

The Government continues to invest in a range of work to strengthen law enforcement capacity and capability to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, including group-based offending. We support the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce, which has a continuous professional development offer for police forces, aiming to upskill forces and improve the investigative response to child sexual exploitation, including group-based offending. We also invest in the Prevention Programme, delivered by The Children’s Society, which works to raise awareness of child exploitation, including child sexual exploitation, through upskilling safeguarding staff at all levels and improving local system responses to child exploitation. This includes working closely with local policing partners.The Government also remains committed to continuing close collaboration with international partners to establish common global standards, share best practice and insights, and build international capacity to combat these horrific crimes.To preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lord Chief Justice (LCJ), the Senior President of Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College.Further to my previous response, the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce has brought together the best police data that is currently available on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, in its publication of November 2024.I refer the Rt Hon Member to The Home Secretary’s statement on 16 January, which set out the actions the Government is taking forward to improve our response to and understand of child sexual exploitation and abuse that is committed by Pakistani heritage grooming gangs. This includes improving the data available on the perpetration of these crimes, as part of which the Home Secretary has asked the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce to expand the ethnicity data it collects and publishes – in particular by gathering data from the end of the investigation when a fuller picture is available.The Home Secretary is also appointing Baroness Louise Casey to lead a rapid three-month audit to improve our understanding of the scale, nature and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse at a national and local level, including what is known about the demographics of perpetrators and victims, and to make recommendations on what additional action is needed to improve our response.