Dear Home Secretary,

I am writing to you today about the answers given in the Minister’s Questions to you, the Home Secretary. As a former Secretary of State, I know how much effort goes into giving answers to questions from MPs and that it takes time, but the two last MQs were somehow an extraordinary showing of late answering of the questions. Everyone has their reasons for doing so, but the first set of Home Office MQs this term was answered late and the second and most recent one was answered at the last possible moment, in the last half hour.

The effect of this is that we, as MPs, are not able to ask follow-up questions to the Home Secretary and it’s something that we have been seeing more and more often by ministers. We, as Conservative MPs, do have some follow-up questions to the Home Secretary and expect and hope that they are answered within a week.

1. The Immigration Minister outlined that the Government does believe in an immigration system that applies equal standards. We already have such an immigration system, the points-based immigration that was put in place by me. Does the Government, therefore, agree with me that we should stick to this system?
2. You, the Home Secretary, said that the Government hopes to set things in motion regarding the eight reviews that were promised, even though the Home Secretary also admitted that some reviews are not found by the Home Secretary. So, my question is, what progress has been made by the Government on those reviews, or is the Government simply saying that they will not do some of those reviews?
3. I am very happy that the Home Secretary wants to cooperate regarding tackling child sexual abuse and that we can work together to tackle this very important issue. I hope that the Home Secretary has some ideas already.
4. The Home Secretary said that he hasn’t been able to meet his counterparts in the devolved administrations, who are responsible for policing. This is a very sad thing to hear, especially with the recent devolution of policing to the Senedd. As a Member of the Senedd and Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, this does raise some questions because it is of the utmost importance that the Westminster and Welsh Governments work together to create a good system. Can the Home Secretary, therefore, outline if any cooperation has happened with the Welsh Government regarding policing or is the Government pretending this isn’t an issue?
5. The answer on the issue of knife crime stays vague, first, it was ‘throwing money at it’, and now it is “tackling why and how people turn to such crime.” So can the Home Secretary, finally, give some details on how the Government is going to do this? How are they going to tackle why people do knife crimes?
6. How is it possible that the current Home Secretary was not provided with any information regarding the Home Office reform and or Home Office Reform report by the former Home Secretary or former Cabinet Office Minister?
7. Why isn’t the Home Secretary aware that this government was deciding whether to bring Fire Services under the Home Office or keep it under HCLG? Their answer to the question regarding this demonstrated a complete lack of understanding towards this previous government’s Home Office policy. 

As I outlined, I hope that the Home Secretary will give an answer to these questions within a week, so we can truly see what actions this Government is going to undertake to tackle these issues.

Yours sincerely,

The Right Honourable Sir model-willem KD OM CB CMG CBE PC
Shadow Home Secretary

The Right Honourable Sir Chi0121 KD KT KBE LVO CT PC
Leader of the Opposition