Written questions by Raja.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that protective security measures approved and funded under the Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme are considered in the planning process; and whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on ensuring that planning decisions do not override counter-terrorism security advice on grounds of (a) visual impact and (b) aesthetics.

Awaiting answer.

What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the interaction between student visa policy and the financial sustainability of higher education institutions.

The tighter Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) metrics, set out in the Immigration White Paper on 12 May 2025, will come into effect in June. Metrics will not be changed according to fluctuations in student visa refusal rates, which vary over time due to changing trends and global conditions, as it is important that the sector has consistency in figures to work towards.BCA reforms are purposefully intended to drive a raising of standards in sponsors’ recruitment practices. The RAG system offers some flexibility and allows for proactive intervention where appropriate, including action plans and CAS restrictions, before reaching the licence revocation stage.The financial sustainability of the sector is regularly considered as part of our policy making. The Home Office has regularly engaged with relevant stakeholders, including the Department for Education, throughout the development of this policy. We will continue to do so throughout implementation and delivery to drive improvement in sponsor recruitment.

What criteria are used to determine when breaches of sponsor compliance metrics result in (a) action plans, (b) recruitment restrictions, and (c) revocation of sponsor licences.

The tighter Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) metrics, set out in the Immigration White Paper on 12 May 2025, will come into effect in June. Metrics will not be changed according to fluctuations in student visa refusal rates, which vary over time due to changing trends and global conditions, as it is important that the sector has consistency in figures to work towards.BCA reforms are purposefully intended to drive a raising of standards in sponsors’ recruitment practices. The RAG system offers some flexibility and allows for proactive intervention where appropriate, including action plans and CAS restrictions, before reaching the licence revocation stage.The financial sustainability of the sector is regularly considered as part of our policy making. The Home Office has regularly engaged with relevant stakeholders, including the Department for Education, throughout the development of this policy. We will continue to do so throughout implementation and delivery to drive improvement in sponsor recruitment.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that sponsors are not penalised for student visa refusals driven by (a) country conditions, (b) geopolitical instability and (c) other external factors.

The tighter Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) metrics, set out in the Immigration White Paper on 12 May 2025, will come into effect in June. Metrics will not be changed according to fluctuations in student visa refusal rates, which vary over time due to changing trends and global conditions, as it is important that the sector has consistency in figures to work towards.BCA reforms are purposefully intended to drive a raising of standards in sponsors’ recruitment practices. The RAG system offers some flexibility and allows for proactive intervention where appropriate, including action plans and CAS restrictions, before reaching the licence revocation stage.The financial sustainability of the sector is regularly considered as part of our policy making. The Home Office has regularly engaged with relevant stakeholders, including the Department for Education, throughout the development of this policy. We will continue to do so throughout implementation and delivery to drive improvement in sponsor recruitment.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the changes in student visa refusal rates over the last 12 months; and how changes in rates are reflected in sponsor compliance requirements.

The tighter Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) metrics, set out in the Immigration White Paper on 12 May 2025, will come into effect in June. Metrics will not be changed according to fluctuations in student visa refusal rates, which vary over time due to changing trends and global conditions, as it is important that the sector has consistency in figures to work towards.BCA reforms are purposefully intended to drive a raising of standards in sponsors’ recruitment practices. The RAG system offers some flexibility and allows for proactive intervention where appropriate, including action plans and CAS restrictions, before reaching the licence revocation stage.The financial sustainability of the sector is regularly considered as part of our policy making. The Home Office has regularly engaged with relevant stakeholders, including the Department for Education, throughout the development of this policy. We will continue to do so throughout implementation and delivery to drive improvement in sponsor recruitment.

What assessment she has made of the risk that increased student visa refusal rates may cause otherwise compliant sponsors to breach the 5% refusal threshold.

The tighter Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) metrics, set out in the Immigration White Paper on 12 May 2025, will come into effect in June. Metrics will not be changed according to fluctuations in student visa refusal rates, which vary over time due to changing trends and global conditions, as it is important that the sector has consistency in figures to work towards.BCA reforms are purposefully intended to drive a raising of standards in sponsors’ recruitment practices. The RAG system offers some flexibility and allows for proactive intervention where appropriate, including action plans and CAS restrictions, before reaching the licence revocation stage.The financial sustainability of the sector is regularly considered as part of our policy making. The Home Office has regularly engaged with relevant stakeholders, including the Department for Education, throughout the development of this policy. We will continue to do so throughout implementation and delivery to drive improvement in sponsor recruitment.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of police resources to tackle robbery in urban areas.

The Government is determined that robust action should be taken to prevent robbery from happening and ensure swift justice for perpetrators.The central aim of our police reform agenda is to protect and revitalise neighbourhood policing. We are lifting national responsibilities off local forces, so they focus on tackling local issues.The Government has already taken steps to boost the neighbourhood policing response, ensuring that every neighbourhood has named, contactable officers dedicated to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour locally, and forces have increased patrols in town centres and other key locations based on local demand and intelligence.By the end of February 2026, forces had delivered more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles since March 2025, strengthening neighbourhood teams as part of our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee to deliver 13,000 more by the end of this Parliament.Total funding to police forces will be up to £18.4 billion, an increase of up to £834 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.7% cash increase and a 2.7% real terms increase in funding.All forces will receive a real terms increase in funding this year.Through the Knife-Enabled Robbery Group, we are working with Chief Constables to roll out proven-to-work interventions targeted in the places where knife crime is highest, including large urban areas. Through this Group we have turned a 14% rise in knife-enabled robbery in these places into 15% reductions overall.

What steps her Department is taking to enforce age restrictions on the (a) online and (b) offline sale of knives to persons under the age of 18.

On 7 April 2026 the Government published ‘Protecting Lives, Building Hope: A Plan to Halve Knife Crime’, which sets out how the Government is aiming to halve knife crime in the decade to 2034. We have been taking action in the Crime and Policing Bill, which is now in its final stages in Parliament, by increasing the penalty for sale of knives to those under 18 to a maximum of two years imprisonment and we have brought forward a number of new legislative measures to toughen our controls on the online sale of knives. They include introducing a new two-step age verification process for online sale and delivery of knives. This process stipulates the acceptable forms of identification to verify age at point of sale and on delivery and that parcels containing knives can only be delivered to the hands of the person who placed the order and they will have to show proof of age and identity on delivery.The Government also launched a public consultation on 16 December 2025 to gather views on proposals to introduce a licensing scheme for those who sell knives, including importers, retailers and private sellers, making them subject to stronger regulations and conditions. Following the close of the consultation on 24 February 2026, the responses received are currently being considered and the Government response will be published in due course.

What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of violent robbery offences committed by persons under the age of 18; and what steps she is taking to tackle those trends.

This Government established a Knife-Enabled Robbery Taskforce in October 2024 to respond to surges of 14% of this violent form of robbery in the year before the General Election, a significant proportion of which involves young people. We brought together Chief Constables and policing partners from the seven areas which collectively accounted for approximately 70% of the national problem.The Taskforce scrutinised police performance in real time and identified common solutions to shared operational challenges, including a specific focus on under-18 knife-enabled robbery along school routes and transport hubs.The Knife-Enabled Robbery Group now continues this relentless effort, achieving promising results, with knife robberies now down by 15% overall across these seven areas (Oct 2025 vs year to June 2024). Knife robberies are also down nationally by 10%. These results demonstrate the impact of our targeted and evidence-led approach.Our new Plan to Halve Knife Crime ‘Protecting Lives, Building Hope’ sets out how we will support young people and stop those at risk from turning to crime. This includes the roll out of over 50 Young Futures Panel pilots across England and Wales to identify thousands of children at high risk of knife crime who were falling through the gaps.

What steps the Government is taking to protect vulnerable and elderly people from violent street crime.

The central aim of our police reform agenda is to protect and revitalise neighbourhood policing. We are lifting national responsibilities off local forces, so they focus on tackling local issues.The Government has already taken steps to boost the neighbourhood policing response, ensuring that every neighbourhood has named, contactable officers dedicated to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour locally, and forces have increased patrols in town centres and other key locations based on local demand and intelligence.By the end of February 2026, forces had delivered more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles since March 2025, strengthening neighbourhood teams as part of our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee to deliver 13,000 more by the end of this Parliament.In order to drive reductions in violent crime and protect communities across the country, on April 7th the Government launched its plan to halve knife crime within a decade. Titled “Protecting Lives, Building Hope: A Plan to Halve Knife Crime’, it will save lives, transform the futures of young people, stop those at risk from turning to knife crime and police our streets to catch and punish perpetrators.

Whether the Department intends to review transparency requirements for nationally operating police-associated units funded by private industry bodies.

Transparency requirements, including in relation to funding, for national policing units is the responsibility of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, or relevant agency which has responsibility for oversight and governance of that unit.

What steps her Department is taking to prevent children from being exploited by drug gangs in (a) Leicester, (b) the East Midlands and (c) the UK.

This Government is committed to tackling child criminal exploitation and going after the gangs who are luring children into violence and crime. That is why we are introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation (CCE) and new civil preventative orders (CCE prevention orders) in the Crime and Policing Bill to target those responsible for criminally exploiting children and to help ensure that children are identified as victims and receive the support and protection they need.CCE prevention orders are designed to specifically target the criminal exploitation of children and will include tailored restrictions and/or requirements the court deems necessary to manage the risk posed to a specific child or children generally. The orders will be able to impose a notification requirement, on the subject of the order, where the court deems it necessary. This will require someone to notify their name and address (and any subsequent changes) to the local police force, to ensure that police are aware of, and able to monitor, individuals who pose a CCE threat.County Lines is the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade. Since July 2024, law enforcement activity through the County Lines Programme taskforces has resulted in more than 3,000 deal lines closed, 8,200 arrests, (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 1,600 deal line holders) 4,300 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people, and 900 knives seized.While the majority of county lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and West Yorkshire Police, we recognise that this is a national issue which affects all forces. This is why we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. The County Lines Programme forces (MPS, West Midlands, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and British Transport Police) also regularly conduct joint operations with importing forces. In addition, we have established a dedicated fund which provides local police forces, including Leicestershire and other forces in the East Midlands, with additional funding and support to tackle county lines.As part of the County Lines Programme we also provide specialist support for children and young people to escape county lines and child criminal exploitation. Since July 2024 more than 620 children and young people have received dedicated specialist support through our county lines support service. To support parents, we also fund a national confidential helpline and support service, SafeCall, for young people and their families or carers affected by county lines exploitation.In addition, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the UK’s framework for identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery and human trafficking. This includes victims of criminal and sexual exploitation. First Responder Organisations (FROs), including the police and local authorities, have a statutory duty to refer any child who is a potential victim of modern slavery and human trafficking into the NRM to ensure they are effectively identified and supported.Whilst child victims of exploitation are supported by local authorities who have primary responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, the Government-funded County Lines Programme and Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service provide additional support. The ICTG service currently covers two-thirds of local authorities across England and Wales, including the East Midlands, and we are in the process of expanding the service to provide national coverage across England and Wales, which will begin in 2027.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of creating a national register for people found guilty of exploiting children for criminal activity.

This Government is committed to tackling child criminal exploitation and going after the gangs who are luring children into violence and crime. That is why we are introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation (CCE) and new civil preventative orders (CCE prevention orders) in the Crime and Policing Bill to target those responsible for criminally exploiting children and to help ensure that children are identified as victims and receive the support and protection they need.CCE prevention orders are designed to specifically target the criminal exploitation of children and will include tailored restrictions and/or requirements the court deems necessary to manage the risk posed to a specific child or children generally. The orders will be able to impose a notification requirement, on the subject of the order, where the court deems it necessary. This will require someone to notify their name and address (and any subsequent changes) to the local police force, to ensure that police are aware of, and able to monitor, individuals who pose a CCE threat.County Lines is the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade. Since July 2024, law enforcement activity through the County Lines Programme taskforces has resulted in more than 3,000 deal lines closed, 8,200 arrests, (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 1,600 deal line holders) 4,300 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people, and 900 knives seized.While the majority of county lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and West Yorkshire Police, we recognise that this is a national issue which affects all forces. This is why we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. The County Lines Programme forces (MPS, West Midlands, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and British Transport Police) also regularly conduct joint operations with importing forces. In addition, we have established a dedicated fund which provides local police forces, including Leicestershire and other forces in the East Midlands, with additional funding and support to tackle county lines.As part of the County Lines Programme we also provide specialist support for children and young people to escape county lines and child criminal exploitation. Since July 2024 more than 620 children and young people have received dedicated specialist support through our county lines support service. To support parents, we also fund a national confidential helpline and support service, SafeCall, for young people and their families or carers affected by county lines exploitation.In addition, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the UK’s framework for identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery and human trafficking. This includes victims of criminal and sexual exploitation. First Responder Organisations (FROs), including the police and local authorities, have a statutory duty to refer any child who is a potential victim of modern slavery and human trafficking into the NRM to ensure they are effectively identified and supported.Whilst child victims of exploitation are supported by local authorities who have primary responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, the Government-funded County Lines Programme and Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service provide additional support. The ICTG service currently covers two-thirds of local authorities across England and Wales, including the East Midlands, and we are in the process of expanding the service to provide national coverage across England and Wales, which will begin in 2027.

What steps her Department is taking to support children and families who have been victims of child exploitation by organised crime.

This Government is committed to tackling child criminal exploitation and going after the gangs who are luring children into violence and crime. That is why we are introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation (CCE) and new civil preventative orders (CCE prevention orders) in the Crime and Policing Bill to target those responsible for criminally exploiting children and to help ensure that children are identified as victims and receive the support and protection they need.CCE prevention orders are designed to specifically target the criminal exploitation of children and will include tailored restrictions and/or requirements the court deems necessary to manage the risk posed to a specific child or children generally. The orders will be able to impose a notification requirement, on the subject of the order, where the court deems it necessary. This will require someone to notify their name and address (and any subsequent changes) to the local police force, to ensure that police are aware of, and able to monitor, individuals who pose a CCE threat.County Lines is the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade. Since July 2024, law enforcement activity through the County Lines Programme taskforces has resulted in more than 3,000 deal lines closed, 8,200 arrests, (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 1,600 deal line holders) 4,300 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people, and 900 knives seized.While the majority of county lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and West Yorkshire Police, we recognise that this is a national issue which affects all forces. This is why we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. The County Lines Programme forces (MPS, West Midlands, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and British Transport Police) also regularly conduct joint operations with importing forces. In addition, we have established a dedicated fund which provides local police forces, including Leicestershire and other forces in the East Midlands, with additional funding and support to tackle county lines.As part of the County Lines Programme we also provide specialist support for children and young people to escape county lines and child criminal exploitation. Since July 2024 more than 620 children and young people have received dedicated specialist support through our county lines support service. To support parents, we also fund a national confidential helpline and support service, SafeCall, for young people and their families or carers affected by county lines exploitation.In addition, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the UK’s framework for identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery and human trafficking. This includes victims of criminal and sexual exploitation. First Responder Organisations (FROs), including the police and local authorities, have a statutory duty to refer any child who is a potential victim of modern slavery and human trafficking into the NRM to ensure they are effectively identified and supported.Whilst child victims of exploitation are supported by local authorities who have primary responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, the Government-funded County Lines Programme and Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service provide additional support. The ICTG service currently covers two-thirds of local authorities across England and Wales, including the East Midlands, and we are in the process of expanding the service to provide national coverage across England and Wales, which will begin in 2027.

What steps she is taking to improve her Department's decision time on visa applications.

UKVI are currently processing applications on the overwhelming majority of its visa routes within their published customer service standards and continue to prioritise urgent compelling or compassionate cases across all workstreams.Where applications are complex and further information is required, decisions may take longer. UKVI encourages all customers to apply in good time ahead of intended travel dates.The Home Office publishes data on its performance against its service level agreement for visas, which can be found on the GOV.UK webpage: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.

What metrics are being used to measure progress on reducing violence against women and girls.

We will measure progress against our ambition to halve VAWG is through a headline metric of the combined prevalence estimate of the proportion of people (aged 16 and over) who experienced any of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking in the previous 12 months, as measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales.Given the complexity and breadth of these crimes, a single metric cannot fully capture progress. We will therefore track a set of supporting headline metrics, focused on female homicide, repeat domestic abuse, and the prevalence of sexual harassment.These measures will be underpinned by a wider range of sub-metrics, such as measures of online harms, to assess progress across government against the pillars of the Strategy.Further detail on our performance framework can be found on page 70 of Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy.

What progress her Department has made towards meeting the Government’s target to halve violence against women and girls within the next decade.

“Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls” was published on 18th December 2025 and sets out the strategic direction and concrete actions to prevent violence and abuse, pursue perpetrators, and support victims, and to deliver our commitment to halve VAWG in a decade.Since July 2024, the Home Office has delivered a series of measures to tackle these crimes including: establishing the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection; commencing the rollout of Raneem’s Law to strengthen protections for victims of domestic abuse; introducing Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in the first pilot areas; announcing £53 million of funding over four years to expand the Drive Project across England and Wales; and rolling out the Steps to Safety referral initiative.Throughout 2026, we will begin delivering many of the commitments set out in the Strategy. This includes the publication of new statutory guidance on Domestic Homicide Reviews, as well as the further rollout of Raneem’s Law to improve the police response to victims and survivors of domestic abuse. Together, these measures represent significant steps towards meeting our ambition to halve VAWG within the next decade.

What the cost to the public purse has been of the Voluntary Return scheme, including (a) financial assistance payments, (b) flights and travel costs, (c) casework and staffing costs and (d) reintegration costs; and what estimate she has made of the potential impact of the Voluntary Return scheme on wider costs to the public purse.

The information requested regarding the number of individuals who departed under a voluntary return scheme and subsequently re-entered the UK is not available from published statistics.The Home Office publishes all available information on returns expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK

How many people who departed the UK under a voluntary return scheme subsequently (a) re-entered the UK unlawfully and (b) made a further asylum claim within five years of departure.

The information requested regarding the number of individuals who departed under a voluntary return scheme and subsequently re-entered the UK is not available from published statistics.The Home Office publishes all available information on returns expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK

What steps her Department is taking to tackle youth knife crime and serious violence in (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands.

We are already making clear progress against our ambition to halve knife crime. In our first year in Government, police-recorded knife crime offences fell by 5%.We have banned zombie knives and ninja swords and are holding online sellers criminally responsible removing almost 60,000 knives from streets in England and Wales. We are taking a range of action in the Crime and Policing Bill to strengthen legislation on knives.New crime mapping tools are already allowing us to identify highly specific knife crime concentrations and focus police and community safety resources where they are needed most. Further investment in cutting-edge capabilities, such as knife detection technology, improved data platforms, and live facial recognition will further enhance our ability to target knife crime.Preventing young people from getting involved in crime is crucial to achieving our ambition. As part of the Young Futures programme, we are piloting new Young Futures Panels. These pilots proactively identify and refer children who may be falling through the gaps, to a range of different support services much earlier. More than 50 panels went operational in October and November, including in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.This financial year (2025/26), we have also allocated £47m to the network of 20 Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) across England and Wales to support their valuable work. VRUs bring together partners to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area. This includes over £1m in VRU grant funding to Leicestershire specifically. We have also allocated £194k to Leicestershire and £1.9m across the East Midlands in grant funding to continue the implementation of the Serious Violence Duty.