We have a robust legislative framework in place to respond to hate crimes, including offences targeting disabled people. For example, under the Sentencing Act 2020, courts can impose a more severe sentence where an offence is motivated by hostility towards a victim's disability.

Through the Crime and Policing Act 2026, the Government has further strengthened hate crime legislation by extending the aggravated offences framework. Once commenced, offences motivated by hostility towards a person's disability, sexual orientation, transgender identity or sex will be treated on the same basis as offences involving race or religion. This will ensure that courts can recognise the additional harm caused when victims are targeted because of these protected characteristics and impose higher maximum sentences where appropriate.

We have also increased funding for the National Online Hate Crime Hub to £1.6 million per year for the next three years. The Hub provides specialist advice and support to police forces across England and Wales to help tackle online hate crime, including that targeting people with disabilities.

Where changes to fee legislation are made, Impact Assessments are produced which identify potential impacts resulting from the changes to those fees.

The latest assessment, published alongside changes which came into effect in April 2026 and which included fees for Standard Visitors and Electronic Travel Authorisations, is available here:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2026/44/pdfs/ukia_20260044_en.pdf

Registration services regularly assess local need, including the requirementsof faith communities where burial may be required within 24 hours, and makeappropriate provision where necessary. The operating hours of each registeroffice is for each local authority to determine.

Home Office ministers have met with a range of stakeholders since the Home Secretary announced proposed changes to the immigration system.

We understand how important these changes are to individuals, families and communities as we work to restore public confidence in our immigration system. For example, the Government ran a public consultation on the proposed earned settlement changes to gather views on the proposals.

In addition to the consultation, the Home Office also ran separate engagement sessions with our immigration advisory groups and other affected stakeholders.

The Home Office will continue to engage with a range of stakeholders as the government considers the consultation responses and develops the policy further.

Protecting the right of all faith communities to worship in peace and without fear is fundamental. The Government continues to support the police in reviewing threats and strengthening protections for faith communities against terrorism and hate crime.

That is why up to £40 million is available through the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme in 2026/27. This includes additional funding announced by the Prime Minister of £10 million to further strengthen security at mosques and other Muslim community sites. The scheme provides protective security measures (such as security personnel services, CCTV, intruder alarms and secure perimeter fencing) to mosques, Muslim faith schools and associated Muslim faith community centres.

To protect the integrity of the scheme and ensure the continued safety of vulnerable sites, the Home Office does not publish data on processing of applications or the specific offers made to individual sites. Releasing this information could inadvertently disclose sensitive details about faith communities and their security arrangements.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of religious hate crimes targeted at Muslims recorded by the police in England and Wales. It is not possible to tell, from the data held centrally, whether or not the offences were committed against mosques, Islamic centres or Muslim community centres.

The latest published statistics are available here: Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK

The Protective Security for Mosques Scheme provides fully funded protective security measures to eligible mosques and associated community centres across the UK.

Implementation timelines under the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme can vary, as they are influenced by a range of operational and site‑specific factors. Once a site has been approved, it is referred to our delivery partners for the necessary survey and subsequent installation activity.

In some cases, additional steps may be required before installation can proceed, such as local planning permission or the production of bespoke security equipment tailored to the site. These elements, which sit outside the Home Office’s direct control, can contribute to longer timeframes.

The Protective Security for Mosques Scheme receives a high volume of applications, and each is assessed to ensure that public money is used proportionately, fairly, and in line with the Scheme’s eligibility requirements.

Processing times can vary depending on application volumes and the circumstances of individual sites. As such, the Home Office does not hold a published estimate of the average length of time for applications to be determined since the Scheme was established.

We continue to work to improve the consistency and timeliness of decisions while ensuring that assessments remain proportionate and aligned with value‑for‑money considerations.

The Home Office provides protective security for Places of Worship as part of three separate strands. These are the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme and protection for Muslim faith schools (since 2023/24), the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant (administered by the Community Security Trust) and the Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme (for all other, non-Muslim and non-Jewish, faiths). Prior to 2023/24, the Muslim community were eligible for support under the Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme.

No funding is provided directly from the Home Office to any place of worship, instead they receive protective security measures funded by the Home Office via contracts or grants.

Since the launch of the Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme and the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme, up to the following amounts have been made available.

In 2026/27, record funding of up to £73.4 million is being made available to protect faith communities. This includes £40 million through the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme and for security at Muslim faith schools, and £5 million for the places of worship and associated faith community centres of all other faiths.

The Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme is open to places of worship from all faith communities, except for Muslim and Jewish sites, which are supported through separate schemes. Muslim organisations are therefore not eligible for the Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme. Instead, mosques and their associated faith community centres can access protective security measures through the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme.

However, between 2016 and the launch of the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme in 2023, Muslim communities were eligible to apply to the Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme.

To protect the integrity of the scheme and ensure the continued safety of vulnerable sites, the Home Office does not publish data on processing of applications or the specific offers made to individual sites. Releasing this information could inadvertently disclose sensitive details about faith communities and their security arrangements.

In the Restoring Order and Control policy statement, the Government committed to transforming its approach to safe and legal routes. This included the creation of a named sponsorship scheme to enable community groups to sponsor refugees and displaced persons.

Work is underway to deliver the named community sponsorship route.

Further details, including timeframes for the launch of the route and the volume of beneficiaries, will be set out in due course.

In the Restoring Order and Control policy statement, the Government committed to transforming its approach to safe and legal routes. This included the creation of a named sponsorship scheme to enable community groups to sponsor refugees and displaced persons.

Work is underway to deliver the named community sponsorship route.

Further details, including timeframes for the launch of the route and the volume of beneficiaries, will be set out in due course.

In the Restoring Order and Control policy statement, the Government committed to transforming its approach to safe and legal routes. This included the creation of a named sponsorship scheme to enable community groups to sponsor refugees and displaced persons.

Work is underway to deliver the named community sponsorship route.

Further details, including timeframes for the launch of the route and the volume of beneficiaries, will be set out in due course.

For individuals granted leave to remain, we are committed to successfully transitioning them from asylum accommodation, which is why we have extended the grace period to 42 days, from 28 days. In limited circumstances, the 42 day period can be extended on a discretionary basis. Information on extensions can be found in published guidance on GOV.UK here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/ceasing-asylum-support-instruction

In reaching this position, a range of evidence, including key findings from a 56-day pilot evaluation, operational data, and forecasted impacts on the asylum accommodation estate were considered. The Home Office will continue to work closely with our partners to reduce barriers and support effective transitions from asylum accommodation.

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of asylum claims by nationality and the number of people claiming asylum where the latest leave held prior to claim was a study visa is published in table Asy_D01 and Asy_D01a of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’. The number of student entry clearance visas issued, broken down by nationality, is published in table Vis_D02 of the 'Entry clearance visas datasets'.

The requested information on asylum claims from Chevening scholars is not available from published statistics.

Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.

Violence against French law enforcement is unacceptable. Whilst the French law enforcement response to that violent conduct has to be a matter for the French authorities, we continue to support their operations to prevent small boat crossings.

Violence against French law enforcement is unacceptable. Whilst the French law enforcement response to that violent conduct has to be a matter for the French authorities, we continue to support their operations to prevent small boat crossings.

Violence against French law enforcement is unacceptable. Whilst the French law enforcement response to that violent conduct has to be a matter for the French authorities, we continue to support their operations to prevent small boat crossings.

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and we have committed to an unprecedented ambition to halve VAWG within a decade.

Public sexual harassment is a crime that often leaves victims, who are disproportionately likely to be women, feeling very unsafe. That is why tackling it is an integral part of our mission on VAWG.

The VAWG Strategy will set out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver on the Government’s VAWG ambition, including action to tackle public sexual harassment.