Written questions by Dhesi.

What steps they are taking to increase the amount of UK made steel used in procurement contracts overseen by their Department.

The Government wants to ensure that public procurement plays its full role in delivering the Industrial Strategy and fostering a resilient economy that supports British businesses and creates good jobs in communities across the country. UK-produced steel has a significant role to play in construction and infrastructure projects.In June 2025 it published Procurement Policy Note 022 “Procuring Steel in Government Contracts”, which among other things requires departments and prime contractors to consult UK Steel’s Steel Catalogue.In March 2026 Government published the Steel Strategy, and announced changes to protect the industries that matter most to our national security, including steel.Departments will have to confirm for the first time whether prime contractors are using UK steel, or explain why not.

With reference to the Animal research and testing non-technical summaries granted in 2025, October to December, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the number experiments on (a) beagles (b) non-human primates and (c) rabbits on progress towards the Government’s pledge to phase out animal testing.

There is no impact from the number of experiments on (a) beagles (b) non-human primates and (c) rabbits on progress towards the Government’s alternatives strategy. This is because licences for the use of animals in scientific procedures may only be granted only where there is robust scientific justification, no validated nonanimal alternative exists, and use is fully compliant with the requirements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.This Government remains firmly committed to working towards the phasing out of animals in science. The strategy, ‘Replacing animals in science’, sets specific targets to reduce the use of dogs and non-human primates by 2030, while ensuring the UK continues to support safe and effective scientific and medical research.The strategy is clear that while the longterm vision is to replace the use of animals in science wherever possible, some animal use remains necessary at present to develop and test new medicines, advance understanding of biology and disease, and to protect human and animal health and the environment. These activities are integral to the UK’s national health preparedness and resilience, including the ability to respond to emerging health threats. Progress towards the phasing out of animal use must therefore be scienceled and supported by reliable alternative methods.Accordingly, the Home Office licensing regime is compatible with the strategy; it enables only tightly controlled animal use where it is scientifically justified and no suitable alternative exists.

Whether she has had any discussions with Cabinet colleagues on transferring responsibility for animal testing and research to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Ministers of State in the Home Office and DSIT have actively engaged on transferring responsibility for animal testing and research to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Agreement has been reached that the portfolio under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act will remain in the Home Office for the foreseeable future.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of moving all of the UK-wide Protection Command responsibilities of the Metropolitan Police into the new National Police Service.

The White Paper “From Local to National: A New Model for Policing” sets out the Government’s proposals on the National Police Service. Further details will be set out in legislation when Parliamentary time allows.

Whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on the potential merits of incorporating the Civil Nuclear Constabulary into the National Police Service.

The White Paper “From Local to National: A New Model for Policing” sets out the Government’s proposals on the National Police Service. Further details will be set out in legislation when Parliamentary time allows.

What steps she is taking to ensure all police forces are operating in compliance with the Statutory Guidance on firearms licensing for Chief Officers of Police.

Firearms licensing is an operational matter for chief officers of police, who are required to have regard to the Statutory Guidance to Chief Officers of Police on firearms licensing in exercising their licensing responsibilities. The Home Office works closely with the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for firearms licensing to support consistent application of the law and accompanying Statutory Guidance across forces.In addition, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services are now undertaking a thematic inspection of police forces’ arrangements in respect of firearms licensing, providing independent scrutiny and identifying areas for improvement.

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 82712 on Firearms Licensing, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of not implementing the recommendation of the Law Commission on codifying existing firearms legislation.

The Government has no plans to take forward the recommendation made by the Law Commission in 2015 to codify existing firearms legislation.

Whether police and fire call handlers are required to have working knowledge of (a) What Three Words and (b) the NATO phonetic alphabet.

Police Call Handlers are not required to have working knowledge of What Three Words and the Nato Phonetic Alphabet. This is an operational matter for Chief Constables.For matters regarding the Fire Service, I would direct my Rt Hon friend to the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government, which is responsible for fire policy.

Pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2026 to Questions 118252, 118255 and 118258, for what reason the College of Policing and Independent Office for Police Conduct have not met their statutory obligation to respond within 56 days to the Prevention of Future Deaths reports of Oladeji Omishore, Sean Fitzgerald and Ashley Crews.

I refer my Honourable friend to the response published on 19 March and suggest that he consider writing to the College of Policing and the Independent Office for Police Conduct concerning their statutory obligations to respond to the respective coroners who published the PFD reports in these cases.

What the average staffing complement is for a ministerial private office within their Department; what grades those staff are appointed at; what the typical remuneration and contracted working hours are for those posts; and what the staff turnover rate is.

Ministerial private offices in the Home Office have a mean of 6 staff members, at grades ranging from Executive Officer to Grade 6 (excluding the Principal Private Secretary and one other member of staff, who are Senior Civil Servants). Staff are contracted between 36 and 37 hours per week depending on their terms and conditions, and their base remuneration is on this basis. An additional allowance is paid in recognition of the expectation that private office staff face additional and out of hours demands. The most recent publication of Home Office salaries (December 2024) lists the salary bands for these grades as: GradeSalary minimumSalary maximumPrivate Office allowanceExecutive Officer£30,000£35,700£5,000Higher Executive Officer£37,300£44,191£6,000Senior Executive Officer£44,720£52,130£7,000Grade 7£60,300£70,730£9,000Grade 6£73,900£85,690£10,000 Pay bands for the Senior Civil Service are centrally determined. Staff turnover for calendar year 2025 was 68%.

With reference to paragraph 88 of the policy paper entitled UK Government Resilience Action Plan, published on 14 July 2025, how many meetings have been attended by civil servants within their Department in relation to the Home Defence Programme; which directorate in the Department owns the Departmental contribution to the Home Defence Programme; and what the job title is of the civil servant leading and cohering the Departmental contribution to the Home Defence Programme.

The Resilience Action Plan sets out the Government’s strategic approach to how we will strengthen our domestic resilience and invest to protect the nation. Home Office officials regularly attend meetings to discuss the implementation of the Resilience Action Plan as well as matters of national security and defence.The Home Office is actively contributing to this work, with a range of directorates across the department engaging in matters related to defence and security, including in Homeland Security Group and Public Safety Group.

If she will ask the College of Policing to respond to the coroner's Prevention of Future Death report following the death of Sean Fitzgerald.

Recipients of Prevent Future Death reports are under a statutory obligation to respond within 56 days.In the cases named, it would be a matter for the College of Policing and Independent Office for Police Conduct respectively to respond accordingly as they have to previous such reports.

If she will ask the College of Policing to respond to the coroner's Prevention of Future Death report following the death of Oladeji Omishore.

Recipients of Prevent Future Death reports are under a statutory obligation to respond within 56 days.In the cases named, it would be a matter for the College of Policing and Independent Office for Police Conduct respectively to respond accordingly as they have to previous such reports.

If she will ask the a) College of Policing and b) Independent Office for Police Conduct to respond to the coroner's Prevention of Future Death report following the death of Ashley Crews.

Recipients of Prevent Future Death reports are under a statutory obligation to respond within 56 days.In the cases named, it would be a matter for the College of Policing and Independent Office for Police Conduct respectively to respond accordingly as they have to previous such reports.

With reference to page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, how many meetings officials from their Department have attended on the national conversation on defence and security; which directorate in their Department is responsible for the departmental contribution to that national conversation; and what the job title is of the official responsible.

Officials from the Home Office regularly attend meetings to discuss matters of national security, defence and resilience as well as the associated public communications required to deliver these lines of efforts. The conversation on National Defence was a recommendation in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which the Government accepted. The Ministry of Defence is the lead department for delivering the SDR, with support from the Cabinet Office, and particularly from the National Security Secretariat.As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the national conversation will be a multi-year, cross-departmental effort designed to deliver on the whole-of-society approach to national security and defence allowing Government, the private sector and public to play their part in strengthening the UK’s resilience to any potential future shocks. This work addresses the risks and threats the UK faces, including those below and above the threshold of an armed attack.

With reference to paragraph 88 of the UK Government Resilience Action Plan, how many meetings Ministers in their Department have attended related to the Home Defence Programme.

The Home Secretary and Security Minister – the latter in his role as a Minister of State at both the Home Office and Cabinet Office – have regular discussions with officials, external experts and ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including national security, defence and resilience.The Home Defence Programme was established in August 2024 to build the UK’s resilience to any potential escalation to conflict. It is an evolving and enduring programme of work which provides defence, security and resilience planning, focused on aligning military and civil effort in the event of a period of crisis and international hostilities affecting the UK, informed by and reflecting the recommendations from government strategies, including the Strategic Defence Review, National Security Strategy and Resilience Action Plan.The Home Office is actively supporting this work in several ways, and is engaged on national security, defence and resilience priorities across government, including through its work on state threats, and its work on policing.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of the implementation of Public Space Protection Orders in specific areas to prevent wildlife from being harmed by catapults.

The Government is clear that catapults should not be used to cause harm to wildlife, people, or property.There are a wide range of laws in place to punish those who misuse catapults. For example, under the Prevention of Crime Act 1953, if a person carries an offensive weapon in a public place or threatens a person with an offensive weapon, they may face up to 4 years in prison. An offensive weapon is defined as any article made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person or intended by the person having it with him for such use by him or by another person. The definition may include a catapult depending on the circumstances and facts of the case.Where a catapult is used to harm a person, under the Offences against the Person Act 1861, it could be charged as assault occasioning actual bodily harm which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years’ imprisonment, However, depending on the gravity of the attack and the seriousness of the injury caused by the catapult, the offence of wounding or causing grievous bodily harm with intent could be committed, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities, and other local agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to anti-social behaviour, including where appropriate, the misuse of catapults. This includes Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) which councils can issue to stop people committing anti-social behaviour in a public space.The Home Office has not made an assessment on the potential merits of using PSPOs to prevent catapult use against wildlife. The powers in the 2014 Act are deliberately flexible in nature, and it is for local agencies to determine whether their use is appropriate in the specific circumstances of each individual case.We do, however, recognise that the misuse of catapults is causing great concern to some local communities and the Home Office and Defra are working to find solutions to this problem with an aim of increasing protection to our wildlife from crimes involving these weapons.

What recent steps have been taken to ensure adequate levels of awareness of rule changes for dual nationals being implemented on 25th February 2026.

We have included information for dual citizens in our electronic travel authorisation (ETA) communications campaign since 2023. Public information strongly advising dual citizens to travel with a valid UK passport or certificate of entitlement (CoE) has been available since October 2024, including official guidance on GOV.UK. In November 2025, we announced the enforcement of ETA from 25 February 2026, which included information about the requirement for dual citizens: No permission, no travel: UK set to enforce ETA scheme - GOV.UK. We provide explicit written and spoken guidance to people who naturalise or register as British citizens, including through their application and at citizenship ceremonies, and since the start of the year we have also emailed people who have registered or naturalised in the last 10 years where we hold useable contact details. This supplements our wider updates via GOV.UK, engagement, promotion via Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) networks, and media engagement in the week that carrier enforcement commenced.

With reference to page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, how many (a) public engagements and (b) private meetings Ministers in their Department have undertaken related to the national conversation on defence and security.

Home Office Ministers have regular discussions with officials, external experts and ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including national security, defence and resilience, and associated public communications.As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the national conversation will be a multi-year engagement designed to embed a whole-of-society approach, where Government, businesses, and the public all play a part in strengthening our resilience. This addresses the risks we face, including threats below and above the threshold of an armed attack. The Home Office is actively supporting this work.

What recent assessment has been made of the potential merits of expanding access to Standard DBS checks for locksmiths through additional recognised industry bodies.

The Government encourages consumers to use providers that operate under a regulated trusted trader scheme, such as the Master Locksmiths Association (MLA), which has a licensing scheme in place. This licensing scheme ensures locksmiths are appropriately vetted, inspected and qualified, which includes a satisfactory standard DBS check.