Written questions by Heylings.

What steps her Department is taking to provide (a) safe and (b) supportive accommodation for female asylum seekers.

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and our manifesto included the mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.The Home Office will also go further than before to deliver a cross-government transformative approach to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published this year.The Home Office works carefully to ensure that the needs and vulnerabilities of those residing in asylum accommodation are identified and considered, including those needs related to mental health and trauma and will use every tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence wherever it occurs, including in asylum accommodation.This government also state our commitment to a gender sensitive asylum system and that we carefully consider the vulnerabilities of all those in our care, which includes previous trauma.

What steps her Department plans to take to help protect (a) female and (b) child asylum seekers against (i) sexual violence and (ii) other abuse in hotel accommodation.

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and our manifesto included the mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.The Home Office will also go further than before to deliver a cross-government transformative approach to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published this year.The Home Office works carefully to ensure that the needs and vulnerabilities of those residing in asylum accommodation are identified and considered, including those needs related to mental health and trauma and will use every tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence wherever it occurs, including in asylum accommodation.This government also state our commitment to a gender sensitive asylum system and that we carefully consider the vulnerabilities of all those in our care, which includes previous trauma.

When she will publish the formal consultation on proposals to change the qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain from 5 years to 10 years.

We will be consulting on the new settlement rules later this year.

What steps her Department are taking to tackle (a) modern slavery and (b) human trafficking through (i) earlier identification and (ii) long term support for victims.

The Government is committed to tackling modern slavery and human trafficking in all its forms and to giving survivors the support they need to recover. The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the UK’s framework for identifying and supporting potential victims of modern slavery. In July 2025, the Home Office launched a public Call for Evidence on how the Government can improve the process of identifying victims of modern slavery, human trafficking and exploitation. This closed on 8 October 2025, and we are now analysing the responses received.The Home Office is in the process of procuring the new Support for Victims of Modern Slavery contract, which aims to deliver positive outcomes for adult survivors, supporting them to achieve long-term stability, live independently and reduce their risk of re-exploitationIn September, the Home Office also launched the tender for the new Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship contract, which will expand the service coverage from two-thirds of local authorities in England and Wales to provide support to all child victims referred into the NRM in England and Wales.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that female asylum seekers who are victims of gender-based violence have access to (a) mental health support and (b) trauma-informed care.

This Government has set out our ambition to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, using every tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of violence.Recognising the mental health challenges faced by people seeking asylum the Home Office has a strategic team focussing on asylum seeker mental health working closely with accommodation providers, NGOs, health partners and lived experience groups to formulate a preventative approach.This approach consists of mental health and wellbeing grant funding that is disseminated across the UK through Strategic Migration Partnerships and the rollout of a trauma-informed practice programme.For further information on initiatives please see Asylum mental health: workstreams, tools and case studies (GOV.UK)

What steps she is taking to protect civil liberties.

The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to UK democracy but must be balanced with the need to maintain public safety. To achieve this, public order legislation has been developed that both safeguards freedoms of expression and assembly and upholds the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human RightsUltimately, operational decisions lie with the police, who are required to act lawfully and proportionately at all times.

Whether the (a) five-year residency requirement for Indefinite Leave to Remain and (b) subsequent one-year period for naturalisation will remain in place for British National (Overseas) visa holders (i) retrospectively and (ii) prospectively.

The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced new measures on a wide range of issues, including indefinite leave to remain.This expansion of the Point-Based System will increase the standard qualifying period for settlement to ten years.We will introduce reforms to expand the Points-Based System to both our settlement and citizenship rules, so they are based on contribution to the UK, with further details to be set out to Parliament by the end of the year.Individuals will have the opportunity to reduce the qualifying period to settlement and citizenship based on contributions to the UK economy and society.We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year and will provide further details at that stage.

Whether her Department's plans to extend the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain for skilled workers from 5 to 10 years will be applied to (a) prospective applicants only or (b) retrospectively to people already living in the UK.

The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced new measures on a wide range of issues, including indefinite leave to remain.This expansion of the Point-Based System will increase the standard qualifying period for settlement to ten years.We will introduce reforms to expand the Points-Based System to both our settlement and citizenship rules, so they are based on contribution to the UK, with further details to be set out to Parliament by the end of the year.Individuals will have the opportunity to reduce the qualifying period to settlement and citizenship based on contributions to the UK economy and society.We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year and will provide further details at that stage.

Whether she is considering (a) transitional arrangements and (b) specific exemptions to future immigration reforms for current British National (Overseas) visa holders.

The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced new measures on a wide range of issues, including indefinite leave to remain.This expansion of the Point-Based System will increase the standard qualifying period for settlement to ten years.We will introduce reforms to expand the Points-Based System to both our settlement and citizenship rules, so they are based on contribution to the UK, with further details to be set out to Parliament by the end of the year.Individuals will have the opportunity to reduce the qualifying period to settlement and citizenship based on contributions to the UK economy and society.We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year and will provide further details at that stage.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making legislative changes allowing birth certificates issued with an error to be re-issued with the original detail amended, rather than retaining the original form with a correction note.

The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, in consultation with a wide range of experts and stakeholders.

What steps she is taking to (a) tackle hate crime against LGBTQ+ people and (b) make LGBTQ+ related hate crime an aggravated offence.

All hate crimes, including those targeting LGBT+ people, are completely unacceptable and we back the police in taking strong action against the perpetrators of these appalling offences.We have committed to ensuring parity of protection for LGBT+ and disabled people under legislation and are currently considering the best way to move forward with this implementation of this commitment.The Government funds an online hate crime reporting portal, True Vision, designed so victims of all types of hate crime - including homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. We are also continuing to fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, which supports individual local police forces in dealing specifically with online hate crime, providing expert advice to police to support them in investigating these abhorrent offences.

If she will formally apologise to Ali Kololo about the Metropolitan Police’s involvement in his overturned conviction.

The Metropolitan Police are operationally independent.