Written questions by Lowe.

What data her Department holds on the prevalence of (a) forced marriage, (b) domestic abuse and (c) educational disadvantage affecting Muslim women; and what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the (i) cultural and (ii) religious barriers that prevent these women from seeking (A) legal and (B) social support.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales for the year ending March 2024 estimates that 5.2% of Muslim women experienced domestic abuse in the last year, compared to a prevalence rate of 6.6% for the adult female population as a whole. In 2023, the Home Office commissioned a feasibility study to examine whether it is possible to produce robust prevalence estimates for forced marriage. We are currently considering the next steps and will set these out in due course. The Home Office does not collect data related to the educational disadvantage.We fund a number of organisations for specific victim cohorts, including 'by and for' services supporting specific minority groups, including services for Black and Asian women.

Whether her Department has issued guidance to (a) immigration officers and (b) caseworkers on the compatibility of an asylum claimant's (i) views on (A) democracy, (B) free speech and (C) gender equality and (ii) other (1) cultural and (2) religious views with long-term residence in the UK.

All asylum decision-making guidance, including our policy on extremism (contained within Exclusion (Article 1F) and Article 33(2) of the Refugee Convention guidance), is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/asylum-decision-making-guidance-asylum-instructions.

Whether his Department has had discussions with NATO allies on the potential impact of the (a) capture, (b) injury and (c) killing of UK personnel while operating in Ukraine on the potential for (i) escalation and (ii) retaliation.

The Defence Secretary regularly speaks with his NATO counterparts on practical plans for how our militaries can support security guarantees for Ukraine’s future. The UK is playing a leading role in accelerating work on security arrangements for Ukraine. This includes putting our own troops on the ground if necessary. Advanced operational planning within the Coalition of the Willing, which is not NATO led, remains ongoing for options across land, sea and air, and to regenerate the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

What estimate he has made of the long-term cost to the public purse of (a) military logistics, (b) equipment support, (c) personnel risk, (d) reconstruction liabilities and (e) other costs arising from proposals for UK ground deployment to Ukraine.

This Government is committed to providing at least £3 billion a year in military support to Ukraine. As the Defence Secretary has made clear in the Commons, Ukraine’s security is our security, and we will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes. The UK will also provide £2.26 billion in additional military support to Ukraine for financial year 2025-26 through the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration loan. Additional support is being provided through UK Export Finance guaranteed loans.Other Government Departments are also providing non-military support to Ukraine including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Department for Business and Trade.

How many people claimed asylum by religion in each of the last five years.

The Home Office publishes available data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum claims is published in table Asy_D01 of the ‘Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to 2024. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.

If she will ensure that a (a) full debate takes place in and (b) divisible motion is agreed by the House of Commons before deploying UK ground forces to Ukraine.

There is a longstanding convention on war powers which this government respects.I refer the Hon. Member to the words of the Prime Minister on 3rd March 2025 during the statement on Ukraine (available at: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-03-03).The Prime Minister (Official report, col.28) "We will, of course, put details before the House when we get to that stage—if we get to that stage."The Prime Minister (Official report, col.38) "My position on the sustained deployment of our troops is that this House would of course want to discuss that and vote on that, but we are nowhere near that stage at the moment."

What information her Department holds on the number of asylum seekers granted leave to remain in the UK since 2010 who have returned to their country of origin for (a) visits, (b) holidays and (c) family reunions; and whether her Department takes steps in such cases to reassess refugee status.

The Home Office does not centrally hold the requested data, and could only collate it through manual searching of historic case files, at a disproportionate cost to the taxpayer. However, I can assure the Hon Member that, where someone has protection status in the UK, revocation action can be taken at any time if there is sufficient evidence to justify such action. All cases are considered on a case-by-case basis and protection status will be revoked in circumstances where there is no remaining protection need.

Whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that asylum seekers in publicly-funded accommodation do not (a) promote and (b) practise the (i) rejection of British law, (ii) subjugation of women, (iii) persecution of religious minorities and (iv) other forms of religious extremism.

No one in the UK is allowed to engage in conduct that breaks the law, regardless of the type of accommodation in which they live.

What the cost to the public purse was of monitoring the MI5 watchlist in the latest period for which data is available.

The Chancellor confirmed in the Spring Statement on 26 March 2025 that the Single Intelligence Account, which provides funding for MI5, SIS and GCHQ, would increase this year to £4.6 billion. Funding for CT Policing, who work closely with MI5, also increased to £1.2 billion this year.It is a longstanding policy not to discuss the costs and resources associated with specific capabilities such as domestic and international watchlists. Detailed breakdowns of funding allocations for the UK Intelligence Community and CT Policing are not published for security reasons.

If she will bring forward legislative proposals to ban Sharia courts.

The Government has no plans to regulate or restrict religious processes (such as sharia courts) where all parties consent to those processes. This is consistent with Britain’s long history of freedom of worship and religious tolerance.Sharia Courts are not part of the judicial system in England and Wales.

How many Prevent referrals related to Islamic extremism resulted in (a) prosecutions and (b) removals from the country in the last three years; and what steps her Department is taking to improve the enforcement of removal orders.

Prevent aims to intervene early to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The Prevent Duty sits alongside long-established safeguarding duties on professionals to protect people from a range of harms. It helps to ensure that people who are susceptible to radicalisation are supported as they would be under safeguarding processes. A Prevent referral does not amount to an accusation of criminality.

If the Prime Minister will meet victims of rape gangs at Number 10 Downing Street.

Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on gov.uk as part of the government’s transparency agenda. For actions this Government is taking to help victims, I refer the Hon. Member to the oral statement made by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department [my Hon. Friend, the Member for Birmingham Yardley] on the 8 April 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to protect Hemsby from coastal erosion.

The shoreline management approach for Hemsby’s coastline is managed realignment, as outlined in the Shoreline Management Plan which has been developed locally. The flood and coastal erosion risk management investment programme includes risk management structures for the coast where it is sustainable and affordable to build them. In areas where it is not, other approaches such as managed realignment will be needed.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether new funding streams will be available to support flood prevention measures in Great Yarmouth constituency.

Delivering on the Government’s Plan for Change, this government is investing a record £2.65 billion over two years, 2024-2025 and 2025-2026, for the construction of new flood schemes, and the maintenance and repair of existing ones. With this funding, 1,000 flood schemes have been or will continue to be supported, better protecting 52,000 properties by March 2026. This year (2025-2026): Great Yarmouth Flood Defences (Epoch 3) is receiving £1,968,000 and Great Yarmouth Flood Defence Scheme Works £730,000. The full list of schemes receiving investment this year has been published online.

How many apprenticeships were started by young people aged 16–24 in Great Yarmouth constituency in each of the past five years.

The number of apprenticeship starts in the Great Yarmouth constituency by age group are published in the ‘Apprenticeships’ accredited official statistics publication, which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a9552480-ccf9-421e-95ad-08dd85738b16. These were last published in March 2025. They include full year figures covering the 2019/20 to 2023/24 academic years, and year-to-date figures for 2024/25 (August 2024 to January 2025).

What proportion of ambulance response times in Great Yarmouth constituency exceeded national targets for category 1 and category 2 calls in the last 12 months.

The Department does not hold the information in the format requested.NHS England publishes official statistics for average ambulance response times by category of incident at a national level and at ambulance trust level. In addition, information on Category 2 ambulance response times has also been published since April 2024 by integrated care board area. This information is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of GP-to-patient ratios in the Great Yarmouth constituency as of April 2025.

General practitioners (GPs) have delivered an estimated 32.3 million appointments in March 2025, an increase of 6% since March 2024. In March 2025, in the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board there were 643,000 GP appointments delivered.In addition, through an £82 million funding boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), we have recruited 1,503 more GPs since 1 October 2024.As of 31 March 2025, the median number of full-time equivalent doctors in general practice per 10,000 registered patients was 7.0 in Great Yarmouth constituency. GPs employed through the ARRS are not included as they are employed by primary care networks, rather than directly by practices.There is no NHS England recommendation for how many patients a GP should have assigned, or the ratio of GPs or other practice staff to patients.The demands each patient places on their general practice are different and can be affected by many different factors, including rurality and patient demographics. It is necessary to consider the workforce for each practice as a whole; not only GPs but also the range of health professionals available who are able to respond to the needs of their patients.

What steps she is taking to tackle (a) knife crime and (b) gang activity in Great Yarmouth constituency.

Halving knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission. To do this, we have:Launched a Halving Knife Crime Coalition, including representation from Norwich, to agree how best to tackle youth knife crime.Implemented a ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes. It is now illegal to sell, manufacture or possess these weapons.Introduced new legislation in Parliament to ban ninja swords.Planned a surrender scheme in July to allow those who currently own these weapons to hand them in. From 1 August 2025 it will be illegal to sell or own these weapons.Allocated £66.3m nationally, including £1m for Norfolk, for the Hotspot Action Fund for 25/26, to deliver high visibility patrolling in hotspots of knife crime, serious violence and ASB.Launched a Knife-Enabled Robbery Taskforce to deliver new operational tactics to bring down levels of knife-enabled robbery.Started development of a new Young Futures programme to intervene earlier to ensure young people facing poorer outcomes and vulnerable to being drawn into crime are identified and offered support in a more systematic way.Invested £1.5 million to support Violence Reduction Units to expand their Focused Deterrence Interventions to steer young people away from criminality.To deliver our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle the gangs that run county lines through violence and exploitation.Through the County Lines Programme we will continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade. Between July and September 2024, policing activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, the arrest and charge of over 200 deal line holders, 500 arrests and 800 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people.Through the Programme, we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. In addition, we have a dedicated surge fund which provides local forces with additional funding to tackle county lines, including Norfolk Police.As committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we are also introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation in the Crime and Policing Bill to go after the gangs who are luring children into violence and crime, and we are providing specialist support for children and young people involved in county lines to exit safely.

Communities and Local Government, if her Department will prioritise (a) Great Yarmouth constituency and (b) other coastal areas for economic regeneration funding.

This Government is fully committed to supporting the regeneration of our town centres and coastal communities.Our new £1.5bn Plan for Neighbourhoods programme will deliver up to £20 million of funding and support over the next decade into 75 communities across the UK, including Great Yarmouth and 24 other coastal towns; laying the foundations to kickstart local growth and drive-up living standards.The programme will help revitalise local areas and fight deprivation at root cause. Funding from the Plan for Neighbourhoods will help people across all 75 towns create bespoke regeneration plans that best fits the needs of their community, delivering change that people can see and identify with.Alongside this, Great Yarmouth will benefit from an additional £597k for 2025-26 to support new or existing UK Shared Prosperity Fund investments.

Communities and Local Government, what funding she has made available for town centre regeneration in Great Yarmouth constituency.

This Government is fully committed to supporting the regeneration of our town centres and coastal communities.Our new £1.5bn Plan for Neighbourhoods programme will deliver up to £20 million of funding and support over the next decade into 75 communities across the UK, including Great Yarmouth and 24 other coastal towns; laying the foundations to kickstart local growth and drive-up living standards.The programme will help revitalise local areas and fight deprivation at root cause. Funding from the Plan for Neighbourhoods will help people across all 75 towns create bespoke regeneration plans that best fits the needs of their community, delivering change that people can see and identify with.Alongside this, Great Yarmouth will benefit from an additional £597k for 2025-26 to support new or existing UK Shared Prosperity Fund investments.