Question follow-through · 98740

Crossbows: Licensing

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of creating a single crossbow licensing authority for England and Wales.

answeredHome Office

About this written question

A written question asks a government minister for information in writing. Parliament publishes the question and any answer.

Answering body: Home Office
Tabled: 10 Dec 2025
Target answer date: 15 Dec 2025
Answer: 6 Jan 2026 · 27 calendar days after tabling

Elapsed calendar days describe the record timeline, not whether Parliament considers an answer on time.

Recorded timeline

10 Dec 2025
Question tabled
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of creating a single crossbow licensing authority for England and Wales.
15 Dec 2025
Target answer date
Date supplied by the official written-questions record.
6 Jan 2026
Answer published
The Government is actively considering the introduction of further controls around crossbows.This follows a call for evidence on strengthening controls on crossbows on public safety grounds, which ran from 14 February to 9 April 2024, and tested ideas for...

Open official record

Official data retrieved 28 Sept 2026.

Later records

Possible follow-up questions

Strong links require the same MP, department and exact heading. Other same-department questions are shown as unreviewed candidates, not as confirmed follow-ups. No debate link is asserted unless a stable source relationship exists.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Equipment: Theft

15 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reduce and (b) prevent equipment theft in (1) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (2) Lincolnshire.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Home Office: Social Media

16 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full time equivalent staff in her Department have been employed for the purpose of making social media content in each of the past three years.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Home Office: Civil Servants

18 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of civil servants in his Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Counter-terrorism

7 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of individuals referred to the Prevent programme in the last three years were found to not be at risk of radicalisation.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Police: Early Retirement

7 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers retired due to ill health in each of the last ten years.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Police: Recruitment

8 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers hired in the last ten years in England underwent standard vetting procedures prior to their hiring.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Police: Recruitment

8 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether people deemed to be from under-represented groups are subject to different vetting procedures as part of the hiring process for police officers in England.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Abortion: Sex Selection

9 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of occasions the police has (a) investigated and (b) charged abortion practitioners in relation to abortions suspected to have taken place on the ba

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Organised Crime: Rural Areas

12 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle organised acquisitive rural crime.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Home Office: WhatsApp

20 Feb 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her Department's policy that (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers use the disappearing messages function on Whatsapp on Government devices.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Police: Workplace Pensions

20 Feb 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to revoke pensions from police officers convicted of violent crimes.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Home Office: Visas

25 Feb 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff within her Department are reliant on a visa for employment.