Written questions by Lowe.

What guidance the Crown Prosecution Service provides to prosecutors when considering whether to charge people who have used force in self-defence within their own home.

Charging decisions in cases regarding householders and the use of force against intruders in England and Wales are made independently by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).Reasonable force may be used by homeowners to protect themselves or others if a crime is taking place inside their home. This means individuals can protect themselves ‘in the heat of the moment’ - this includes using an object as a weapon or to stop an intruder running off - for example by tackling them to the ground. There is no specific definition of ‘reasonable force’ as this will depend on each individual circumstance. A homeowner does not have to wait to be attacked before defending themselves in their home. If a homeowner has acted in reasonable self-defence and the intruder dies, they will still have acted lawfully.However, a prosecution could follow if, for example, the attack on an intruder continues after the danger has passed or a trap has been pre-planned for an individual rather than informing and involving the police.Guidance regarding householders and the use of force against intruders can be found at Householders and the use of force against intruders | The Crown Prosecution Service.The CPS does not hold any data which shows the number of defendants who were homeowners prosecuted for using unreasonable or excessive force to protect themselves against an intruder in their home. To establish whether defendants were homeowners using excessive force against an intruder would require a manual review of case files and with over 440,000 defendants prosecuted by the CPS during 2024, this would be at disproportionate cost.Data is held from 2015 showing the number offences of murder, attempted murder, and manslaughter charged by way of common law (or the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 in respect of attempted murder) in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in the magistrates’ courts. From 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2024, 12,418 such offences were charged. This figure relates to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data is held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.

What steps she is taking to ensure that people who act in good faith to protect themselves or others from intruders are not prosecuted.

Charging decisions in cases regarding householders and the use of force against intruders in England and Wales are made independently by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).Reasonable force may be used by homeowners to protect themselves or others if a crime is taking place inside their home. This means individuals can protect themselves ‘in the heat of the moment’ - this includes using an object as a weapon or to stop an intruder running off - for example by tackling them to the ground. There is no specific definition of ‘reasonable force’ as this will depend on each individual circumstance. A homeowner does not have to wait to be attacked before defending themselves in their home. If a homeowner has acted in reasonable self-defence and the intruder dies, they will still have acted lawfully.However, a prosecution could follow if, for example, the attack on an intruder continues after the danger has passed or a trap has been pre-planned for an individual rather than informing and involving the police.Guidance regarding householders and the use of force against intruders can be found at Householders and the use of force against intruders | The Crown Prosecution Service.The CPS does not hold any data which shows the number of defendants who were homeowners prosecuted for using unreasonable or excessive force to protect themselves against an intruder in their home. To establish whether defendants were homeowners using excessive force against an intruder would require a manual review of case files and with over 440,000 defendants prosecuted by the CPS during 2024, this would be at disproportionate cost.Data is held from 2015 showing the number offences of murder, attempted murder, and manslaughter charged by way of common law (or the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 in respect of attempted murder) in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in the magistrates’ courts. From 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2024, 12,418 such offences were charged. This figure relates to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data is held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of people without lawful immigration status who have come into contact with the police in the last five years.

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

What data her Department holds on suspected illegal migrants attempting to access welfare services.

The department does not hold data on illegal migrants attempting to access welfare services. People who are in the UK illegally (that is to say people without a valid UK immigration status) are not permitted access to DWP public funds benefits.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the merits of commissioning an independent study to produce an updated estimate of the number of illegal migrants in the UK.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer I gave him on 30 January to Question 25047.

What discussions her Department has had with the Office for National Statistics on developing a reliable estimate of the irregular migrant population using available (a) administrative and (b) survey data.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer I gave him on 30 January to Question 25047.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of people without legal status living in (a) temporary and (b) informal accommodation; and what discussions she has had with local authorities on understanding the scale of irregular migration.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer I gave him on 30 January to Question 25047.

How she calculates the number of people without legal immigration status.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer I gave him on 30 January to Question 25047.

What estimate his Department has made of the number of individuals accessing NHS services who do not have lawful residency status in the UK; and whether such data is used to inform other estimates of immigration.

The Department does not hold or collect the information requested.

Whether HMRC has made an estimate of the number of people working in the informal economy without legal immigration status; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of illegal working on the economy.

The government is committed to ensuring the UK border is secure and is increasing enforcement of illegal working practices for those without the right to be here. Furthermore, the government is recruiting an additional 5,500 compliance staff over the next five years as part of our ambitious approach to ensure everyone pays the right tax at the right time

How many immigration detention beds are available; and what steps she is taking to increase capacity.

The Home Office currently operates seven Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) throughout the UK, (six in England and one in Scotland) and three residential Short-Term Holding Facilities (STHFs) (one in Northern Ireland and two in England). Additionally, the Home Office operates one Pre-Departure Accommodation for families (PDA) at Gatwick. As of 1 June, immigration detention capacity is c2,480 beds. The Home Office are increasing detention spaces to support the Government’s priority to increase returns. This includes reopening and adding initially 290 beds across IRCs at Campsfield and Haslar, with further expansions in the future. The Home Office publishes quarterly data on the daily cost of detention. This can be found on the gov.uk website at: Immigration Enforcement data: Q1 2025 - GOV.UK

If she will make an estimate of the average cost to the public purse of each immigration detention bed.

The Home Office currently operates seven Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) throughout the UK, (six in England and one in Scotland) and three residential Short-Term Holding Facilities (STHFs) (one in Northern Ireland and two in England). Additionally, the Home Office operates one Pre-Departure Accommodation for families (PDA) at Gatwick. As of 1 June, immigration detention capacity is c2,480 beds. The Home Office are increasing detention spaces to support the Government’s priority to increase returns. This includes reopening and adding initially 290 beds across IRCs at Campsfield and Haslar, with further expansions in the future. The Home Office publishes quarterly data on the daily cost of detention. This can be found on the gov.uk website at: Immigration Enforcement data: Q1 2025 - GOV.UK

If she will make an assessment with the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the potential merits of taxing remittances to countries that refuse to accept their returned nationals.

All policy relating to taxation is a matter for the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Whether she plans to increase the annual budget for immigration enforcement in line with projected growth in removals activity.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer presented her Spending Review 2025 to Parliament on Wednesday 11 June 2025.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of initiating a (a) cross-Departmental and (b) UK-wide commission into the number of illegal migrants living in the UK.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer I gave him on 30 January to Question 25047.

If she will take steps to require data sharing between NHS Digital and her Department to help identify illegal migrants.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave him on 6 May to Question 47960.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a public reporting scheme that offers financial rewards for verified reports of illegal migrants.

The Home Office already operates an Immigration Enforcement hotline and provides several other routes for members of the public to report information regarding immigration related crime and/or abuse. Over the past three years we have seen an increase in information received from members of the public – we publish this information on a quarterly basis and it can be found here: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.

If she will make an estimate of the cost of deporting one million illegal migrants under existing rules for deportations.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave him on 6 May in response to Question 47960.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the total cost to the public purse was of the production of his Department's Diego Garcia Military Base explainer video.

This video was produced in-house by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office communications team. There was therefore no additional cost to making the video.

What estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of VAT (a) registration and (b) compliance on small businesses.

At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This means the majority of UK businesses are kept out of the VAT system.