Written questions by Lowe.

What protocols are in place for schools to report suspected grooming gang activities involving students.

The department can confirm that the statutory safeguarding guidance, ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE), provides clear and robust guidance on how schools and colleges must report all safeguarding concerns.It covers issues such as grooming, sexual abuse, and child sexual exploitation, ensuring that schools and colleges have the tools and guidance needed to manage safeguarding effectively.KCSIE makes clear that all concerns, discussions, decisions made, and the reasons for those decisions must be documented in writing.Where staff have concerns about a child, they must follow their school or college’s child protection policy and report concerns to the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) without delay. Ordinarily, it is the DSL who is then responsible for referring these concerns to the relevant local authority children’s social care team and, where appropriate, the police. When such referrals are made into children's social care, and the police, data will be captured and recorded by those agencies.KCSIE is designed to ensure that all concerns are dealt with swiftly, effectively, and in line with local safeguarding protocols. Schools and colleges must also engage with their local safeguarding partners to ensure these processes are consistently implemented.

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 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 a programme to increase awareness of the signs of rape gang abuse for teachers in primary and secondary schools.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Schools and colleges have a critical role to play in protecting children and keeping them safe. The department has an established robust safeguarding framework in place in the form of ‘Keeping children safe in education’, which is the statutory safeguarding guidance that all schools and colleges must have regard to. Part 1 of this guidance, which should be read by all staff who work directly with children, not only sets out the different types of abuse and harm but also makes clear that all staff should receive safeguarding training, know how to recognise abuse and know what to do if they have any concerns about a child. The department keeps the guidance under regular review to see where it needs strengthening and to ensure it is reflective of emerging risks and issues in safeguarding. Pupils are taught about rape, exploitation and abuse as part of compulsory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). The RSHE statutory guidance is also clear that schools should provide pupils with the knowledge they need to recognise and report abuse, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse. The department is currently reviewing the statutory RSHE curriculum to ensure it covers all relevant content relating to sexual violence.

If her Department will make an estimate of the number of Sharia Courts there are in the UK.

I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 18 December to Question 18879: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-12-10/18879.Sharia Councils are not part of the judicial system.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an awareness programme to protect primary and secondary school children from rape gang abuse.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Schools and colleges have a critical role to play in protecting children and keeping them safe. The department has an established robust safeguarding framework in place in the form of ‘Keeping children safe in education’, which is the statutory safeguarding guidance that all schools and colleges must have regard to. Part 1 of this guidance, which should be read by all staff who work directly with children, not only sets out the different types of abuse and harm but also makes clear that all staff should receive safeguarding training, know how to recognise abuse and know what to do if they have any concerns about a child. The department keeps the guidance under regular review to see where it needs strengthening and to ensure it is reflective of emerging risks and issues in safeguarding. Pupils are taught about rape, exploitation and abuse as part of compulsory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). The RSHE statutory guidance is also clear that schools should provide pupils with the knowledge they need to recognise and report abuse, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse. The department is currently reviewing the statutory RSHE curriculum to ensure it covers all relevant content relating to sexual violence.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the operation of Sharia courts on the legal system.

I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 18 December to Question 18879: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-12-10/18879.Sharia Councils are not part of the judicial system.

If she will make it her policy to close all Sharia courts in the UK.

I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 18 December to Question 18879: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-12-10/18879.Sharia Councils are not part of the judicial system.

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.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to commission a study into the potential impact of Halal meat on animal welfare.

Legislation requires that animals must be stunned prior to slaughter so that they are unconscious and insensible to pain. The only exception to the requirement to stun is where animals are slaughtered in accordance with religious rites. The Government would prefer animals to be stunned before slaughter but respects the rights of Jews and Muslims to eat meat prepared in accordance with their beliefs. Legislation sets out the main requirements to protect the welfare of animals when being slaughtered and there are additional rules that apply when animals are slaughtered by either the Jewish or Muslim method to ensure that animals are spared avoidable pain, suffering, or distress during the slaughter process. Many animals that are slaughtered for halal meat are stunned before slaughter. The Government’s Farm Animal Welfare Committee published a report in 2003 which considered the welfare detriment involved in slaughter without prior stunning. The European Food Standard’s Authority also published advice on the topic in a 2004 report. The Department will continue to review any new scientific research and evidence which emerges.

How many removals of illegal migrants were (a) voluntary and (b) enforced 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’.

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’.

What the average award to each individual was under the Voluntary Returns Scheme; and what the total cost was to the public purse of the Voluntary Returns Scheme in each of the last five years.

The specific information requested is not readily available from published statistics and could only be obtained for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.There are long standing arrangements to encourage individuals to return to their home countries through the Voluntary Returns Service (VRS), which offers financial and practical assistance to help people leave the UK peacefully and voluntarily, in order to avoid the considerable costs involved in detaining, accommodating and forcibly removing the same individual under the Enforced Returns process.

How many chartered flights for the deportation of illegal migrants there were in each of the last five years; and how many such migrants there were on each such flight.

The table below shows the number of flights chartered in each of the last five years, and the total number of individuals who were returned or removed on these flights.YearFlightsIndividuals2020478832021641,2982022621,5662023602,6222024663,533

How many people on bail for immigration cases have public authorities lost track of in each of the last five years.

The information requested is not readily available and could only be collated for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

What proportion of known irregular migrants the Department has lost track of in each of the last five years.

Robust procedures are in place to ensure that individuals with no right to be in the UK are removed, either voluntarily or through enforcement action.When an individual fails to engage with the Home Office or attend a reporting event, we automatically seek to contact them, and if those efforts fail, they are treated as an absconder and the Home Office works with the police, other government agencies and commercial companies to trace those individuals and take appropriate action to remove them.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to lower the threshold at which the Department has a legal duty to deport foreign national offenders.

Under the UK Borders Act 2007, the Home Secretary has a duty to deport a foreign criminal convicted in the UK and sentenced to a period of imprisonment of 12 months or more unless an exception applies. Where the automatic deportation threshold is not met, a foreign national can already be considered for deportation where it is considered conducive to the public good under the Immigration Act 1971.

Whether her Department (a) collects and (b) analyses the (i) demographic, (ii) ethnic and (iii) religious backgrounds of people convicted of grooming gang offences.

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 a comparative review of grooming-gang offences with other countries to learn best practice.

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 conducting a review of the number of irregular migrants resident in the UK.

Robust procedures are in place to ensure that individuals with no right to be in the UK are removed, either voluntarily or through enforcement action.When an individual fails to engage with the Home Office or attend a reporting event, we automatically seek to contact them, and if those efforts fail, they are treated as an absconder and the Home Office works with the police, other government agencies and commercial companies to trace those individuals and take appropriate action to remove them.