Written questions by Kohler.

Whether any dedicated funding has been provided to the Metropolitan Police to support the Ninja Sword Surrender Scheme.

The Ninja Sword Surrender Scheme ran for four weeks between 1 to 31 July 2025. The scheme allowed owners of ninja swords to surrender them at designated police stations in England and Wales and, if they wished, submit a claim for compensation, which was forwarded to the Home Office for consideration.The scheme was directly funded by the Home Office, and no specific funding was given to police forces including the Metropolitan Police.

What criteria will be used in the Home Office English Language Test procurement process to help ensure the (a) integrity, (b) reliability and (c) independent validation of English language assessments, in the context of (i) AI and (ii) remote delivery models.

The Home Office is currently undertaking market engagement to inform the development of contractual requirements for the English Language Test procurement, and will ensure the continued integrity, reliability and independent validation of English language assessments, including considerations for both AI-enabled and remote delivery model.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of fraudulent insurance claims that have been made by people who stage road traffic collisions to gain compensation there have been in the last 12 months.

The Government recognises the harm caused by these types of fraudulent claims. This is why we have launched an Insurance Fraud Charter with key insurance firms to agree a series of voluntary measures to reduce fraud against the sector and consumers.The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau reports that there has been 118 reports of Insurance related Fraud in the past 13 months.

With reference to Q52 of the oral evidence given by the Permanent Secretary to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 4 February 2025 HC 505, how many (a) rooms and (b) rooms were the ten hotels in question able to accommodate; and what the saving to the public purse will be as a result of their closure.

The Home Office publishes numbers on people in hotels. It does not publish or report on number of rooms.Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, and by local authority can be found on GOV.UK as part of the quarterly Immigration system statistics release. The Home Office also publishes information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts.

With reference to Q16 of the oral evidence given by the Permanent Secretary to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 4 February 2025 HC 505, whether her Department has conducted horizon scanning on (a) spontaneous far-right protests and (b) child sexual exploitation by organised networks.

The Home Office and our policing partners keep all risks of criminality under review on an ongoing basis.

With reference to Q32 of the oral evidence given by the Permanent Secretary to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 4 February 2025 HC 505, if she will (a) provide a detailed cost matrix for each role within the police and (b) set out how announced Government funding will support the recruitment of new officers.

Total funding to police forces will be up to £17.5 billion, an increase of up to £1.1 billion compared to the 2024-25 police funding settlement.This includes fully covering the costs for the pay award, the increase in the employer national contributions, funding for officer maintenance and an additional £200 million to kickstart the first phase of recruitment for 13,000 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood policing roles.For neighbourhood roles in 2025-26 we have asked forces to outline proposals for their workforce mix that is tailored to local needs and operational contexts, based on what is deliverable within their funding allocation.This will ensure that additional neighbourhood personnel in 2025-26 are delivered in a manner that is flexible and easily adaptable to varied crime demands, allowing forces to increase the neighbourhood policing workforce at pace.