Written questions by Owen.

Whether she will integrate Special Grant funding into the core settlement provided to Bedfordshire Police.

The 2026-27 Final Police Funding Settlement confirmed £49.6m for Special Grant in the coming financial year. Funding for Bedfordshire Police will be up to £175.8m, an increase of up to £7.5m from 2025-26. Special Grant awards will be confirmed in due course.The government has set out an ambitious programme of police reform in the Police Reform White Paper, and has committed to reform of the police funding model.

Whether she will provide an update on the status of Special Grant funding to Bedfordshire Police.

The 2026-27 Final Police Funding Settlement confirmed £49.6m for Special Grant in the coming financial year. Funding for Bedfordshire Police will be up to £175.8m, an increase of up to £7.5m from 2025-26. Special Grant awards will be confirmed in due course.The government has set out an ambitious programme of police reform in the Police Reform White Paper, and has committed to reform of the police funding model.

What steps she is taking to ensure that Bedfordshire Police have sufficient resource to hit officer number targets.

The Government’s Safer Streets Mission sets a clear expectation for policing to deliver safer communities and improved public confidence. An effective, well-supported police service is central to achieving this.For 2025/26, £376.8 million has been made available to forces to support achievement of officer number targets. This funding was distributed as follows:£270.1 million in ringfenced funding has been made available, which PCCs have been able to access, as in previous years, by demonstrating that they have met their officer headcount targets.£106.7 million has been paid to forces who received additional recruitment allocations in 2023/24 and 2024/25. This funding has been provided as an additional recruitment top up grant. It is unconditional, and the funding has been distributed according to how much additional recruitment forces were allocated.For 2025/26, Bedfordshire Police have been allocated a total of up to £3,155,659 through the officer maintenance ringfenced grant, and £1,580,578 through the top-up grant, to maintain a total headcount of 1,466 officers.Published statistics show the force achieved this target at the mid-year point. As at 30 September 2025, Bedfordshire Police had a total of 1,467 police officers (headcount).For 2025/26, a total of up to £1,803,234 was also made available to Bedfordshire Police through the neighbourhood policing grant to grow by 38 FTE Neighbourhood Policing officers (30 FTE police officers and 8 FTE PCSOs).As at 30 September, Bedfordshire Police had grown their neighbourhood policing function by 13 FTE.

If she will make it her policy to waive the Secure English Language Test requirement for foundation year students applying for study visas from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The Government is keeping all existing visa pathways under review in response to events in Gaza. Palestinians who wish to settle in the UK can do so via the existing routes available.The English language requirements on the Student route are designed to ensure that Students being offered places to study in the UK are genuine students who also genuinely possess the English language ability required to see their course through to completion.Officials are working across government to address the complex issues arising from the current situation in Gaza.

How much funding her Department has (a) allocated to and (b) spent on prevention of female genital mutilation in each financial year since 2014-15.

The Government is tackling female genital mutilation (FGM) through its landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls. The Government’s approach is focused on preventing these crimes from happening, supporting and protecting survivors and those at risk, and bringing perpetrators to justice.The below outlines the annual spending allocated by the Home Office to prevent and tackle FGM in England and Wales in each financial year since 2015. The Home Office does not hold funding information for earlier than 2015/2016. This funding was used for a range of activity to tackle FGM, including victim support helplines, training courses on FGM for frontline personnel, academic research and communication campaigns:FY 2015-2016: £2,718,000FY 2016-2017: £1,664,000FY 2017-2018: £2,358,768FY 2018-2019: £2,403,768FY 2019-2020: £1,023,768FY 2020-2021: £334,234FY 2021-2022: £211,020FY 2022-2023: £259,568FY 2023-2024: £1,170,209FY 2024-2025: £1,108,599

What steps her Department is taking to lower (a) visa and (b) administrative costs for research organisations.

The Government keeps the immigration system and fees for immigration and nationality applications under regular review, in consultation with a wide range of experts and other stakeholders.The Government will also continue to set fees for immigration and nationality applications at a level to ensure the migration and borders system is sustainably funded. It is right that a greater share of the cost of operating the system is borne by those applicants who directly use it, rather than the taxpayer.

What assessment she has made with the Secretary of State for Education of the potential impact of changes to the eligibility of people with student visas to bring dependents on enrolment numbers in higher education settings.

A full economic Impact Assessment (IA) was produced relating to the potential impacts of changes to the eligibility of student visa holders to bring dependants. The IA is available at: 2023 changes to the student route and consequential changes to work routes: impact assessment (publishing.service.gov.uk)Home Office also publish monthly statistics on visas issued (including those on study visas and their dependants). These statistics do not consider the extent to which the lower volumes relative to last year are attributable to the specific policy changes in question. The monthly statistics are available at: Monthly monitoring of entry clearance visa applications - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)