Written questions by Hayes.

How much police forces in England and Wales spent on roles related to equity, diversity and inclusion in the last three years.

The Home Office does not hold information relating to how much money is spent by police forces on roles related to equity, diversity and inclusion.Decisions on how funding and resources are utilised are an operational matter for Chief Constables and locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners, who are best placed to make resourcing decisions within their communities based on their local knowledge and experience.

If she will make an estimate of the number of people working illegally in the construction industry.

The government takes illegal working very seriously, and we are determined to clamp down on the employment of individuals with no right to work in the UK, including the sectors highlighted by the Rt Hon Gentleman. Since this government came to office, Immigration Enforcement’s Criminal and Financial Investigation teams have charged six individuals with employing illegal workers, compared to just four in the previous two and a half years combined. Those six charges may represent progress on the dismal record of inaction seen under the previous government, but they still add up to an unacceptably low rate of enforcement against businesses employing, and in many cases exploiting, illegal workers, and we are therefore determined to go further over the coming months and years.As part of this, we are also determined to establish a more comprehensive, accurate and up to date evidence base of the scale and nature of illegal working in the UK, which we hope will in due course allow us to provide robust answers to the questions raised by the Rt Hon Gentleman concerning the estimates of the number of people working illegally in specific, high-risk sectors and industries.

What recent estimate she has made of the number of people working illegally in car washes.

The government takes illegal working very seriously, and we are determined to clamp down on the employment of individuals with no right to work in the UK, including the sectors highlighted by the Rt Hon Gentleman. Since this government came to office, Immigration Enforcement’s Criminal and Financial Investigation teams have charged six individuals with employing illegal workers, compared to just four in the previous two and a half years combined. Those six charges may represent progress on the dismal record of inaction seen under the previous government, but they still add up to an unacceptably low rate of enforcement against businesses employing, and in many cases exploiting, illegal workers, and we are therefore determined to go further over the coming months and years.As part of this, we are also determined to establish a more comprehensive, accurate and up to date evidence base of the scale and nature of illegal working in the UK, which we hope will in due course allow us to provide robust answers to the questions raised by the Rt Hon Gentleman concerning the estimates of the number of people working illegally in specific, high-risk sectors and industries.

How many business owners have been charged with employing illegal workers in each of the last three years.

The government takes illegal working very seriously, and we are determined to clamp down on the employment of individuals with no right to work in the UK, including the sectors highlighted by the Rt Hon Gentleman. Since this government came to office, Immigration Enforcement’s Criminal and Financial Investigation teams have charged six individuals with employing illegal workers, compared to just four in the previous two and a half years combined. Those six charges may represent progress on the dismal record of inaction seen under the previous government, but they still add up to an unacceptably low rate of enforcement against businesses employing, and in many cases exploiting, illegal workers, and we are therefore determined to go further over the coming months and years.As part of this, we are also determined to establish a more comprehensive, accurate and up to date evidence base of the scale and nature of illegal working in the UK, which we hope will in due course allow us to provide robust answers to the questions raised by the Rt Hon Gentleman concerning the estimates of the number of people working illegally in specific, high-risk sectors and industries.

If she will take steps to collect data on the number of applications to stay in the UK that are made on the basis of a sham (a) marriage and (b) civil partnership.

The Government takes abuse of the spouse and partner immigration routes very seriously. Family migration must be based on a genuine and subsisting marriage or relationship. The Home Office focuses its efforts on disrupting facilitators as well as prosecuting individuals involved in sham marriages and civil partnerships.The Home Office will also investigate if, at any point, there are reasonable suspicions of a sham relationship, for example following applications for permission to enter or stay, or where there is supporting intelligence or evidence gathered during operations.The Home Office continues to enhance its reporting capabilities of recorded sham marriage data and is recording the number of sham marriage and civil partnership applications that it detects. However, it is not possible to state how many applications to stay are made on the basis of a sham marriage or civil partnership.

If she will make an estimate of the number of hours of police time spent each week on investigating non crime hate incidents.

The Home Office does not currently hold force-level data on the recording of non-crime hate incidents.

What steps she is taking to tackle retail crime in rural communities.

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level, up 29% on year up to June 2024, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers to do this. We won’t stand for this.As part of the Safer Streets Mission, we will introduce a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We will also end the effective immunity granted to shop theft of goods under £200, and provide over £7 million over the next three financial years to support the police tackling retail crime.These measures will apply to shop workers and retails in urban and rural communities, and this Government is clear that no matter where you live, when you report a crime, it should be properly investigated with victims having faith justice will be delivered, and criminals facing meaningful consequences

What criteria her Department plans to use to assess the effectiveness of its policy to tackle smuggling gangs involved in illegally trafficking people into the UK.

The Government will make further statements in due course regarding the ways in which progress on its key priorities will be assessed.

What steps she is taking to help support victims of domestic abuse in (a) rural and (b) remote areas.

This Government recognises that victims in rural and remote areas face particular barriers to fleeing abuse and accessing support. That is why we continue to fund specialist domestic abuse helplines for victims across England and Wales to enable everyone to access advice and support. We are already driving forward a range of activities which will support rural victims. The Victims and Prisoners Act will require local commissioners to develop joint needs assessments for victims of domestic abuse to identify and address gaps in support. Furthermore, on 24 October, the Home Secretary announced a package of reforms to improve the police response to victims of VAWG related crimes. Our new VAWG strategy to be published next year will lay out our plans for any future initiatives and research, including for victims in rural and remote areas.

What the potential cost to the public purse is for hotels that have opened to provide contingency accommodation for people seeking asylum since 5 July 2024.

The Home Office regularly publishes details of the department’s expenditure on asylum, published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

How many irregular migrants have received a waiver from paying the immigration health surcharge in each year since 2017.

Information on Fee Waiver outcomes is published as part of the Migration Transparency statistics; however it is not possible to disaggregate Fee Waivers granted to irregular migrants from the data. The Migration Transparency data can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-dataData is not held on whether individuals receiving refunds are regular or irregular migrants. The IHS refund is linked to the outcome of an application, rather than the status of a migrant.

Whether she has had recent discussions with her Turkish counterpart on illegal immigration into the UK.

Home Office Ministers and officials are in regular communication with a wide range of international partner countries working together to tackle organised immigration crime.

Whether she has had recent discussions with her Vietnamese counterpart on illegal immigration into the UK.

Home Office Ministers and officials are in regular communication with a wide range of international partner countries working together to tackle organised immigration crime.

How many irregular migrants have received a refund for paying the immigration health surcharge since 2017.

Information on Fee Waiver outcomes is published as part of the Migration Transparency statistics; however it is not possible to disaggregate Fee Waivers granted to irregular migrants from the data. The Migration Transparency data can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-dataData is not held on whether individuals receiving refunds are regular or irregular migrants. The IHS refund is linked to the outcome of an application, rather than the status of a migrant.

How many children have been investigated for non-crime hate crimes in the last five years.

The Home Office does not centrally hold or collate information on the number of children who have been investigated by police forces for non-crime hate incidents.The statutory Non-Crime Hate Incidents Code of Practice makes it clear that a child who is subject of an non-crime hate incident report may have lower appreciation of the impact of their words or behaviour, thus recording their personal data may be a disproportionate response.

How many applications for gangmaster licences have been refused in the last five years.

The annual number of applications for gangmaster licences that have been refused are published in the Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority’s Annual Reports and Accounts. Annual accounts have been published up to and including the 2022-23 financial year. From the available published data, the total number of refused applications since 2019/20 up to and including 2022/23 is 42.

If she will collate the number of non-crime hate incidents recorded by police forces in each of the last five years.

The Home Office does not currently centrally hold or collate information on the number of non-crime hate incidents recorded by police forces.

How many and what proportion of asylum seekers being accommodated in hotels are awaiting a decision on their application by (a) nationality, (b) sex and (c) age range.

Data on the number of asylum seekers in receipt of support by nationality, can be found within the Asy_D09 tab for our most recent stats release: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab).

How many properties her Department has rented for the temporary housing of asylum seekers awaiting a decision on their claim for asylum since 5 July 2024.

As was the case under the previous government, the Home Office does not rent properties; it discharges its statutory duties for accommodating destitute asylum seekers through a contract with three main accommodation providers, which was agreed by previous administrations. The providers are responsible for sourcing and acquiring accommodation to meet demand and the estate is subject to daily change.

How many foreign nationals have been refused visas because of criminal convictions in their home countries in each of the last five years.

The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on visas refused are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance visas dataset. However, this information is not broken down by reason for refusal. Further information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates up to the end of June 2024.