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1126331

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Biometrics
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the accuracy of facial recognition technology.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL15691
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/05/2019 answer text <p>Facial recognition is a fast evolving area of technology with the potential to streamline identity verification and authentication processes across Government and the private sector. When used in the appropriate setting and context, it has proved to be a very reliable and accurate tool.</p><p>Its performance is dependent on a number of variables, from the quality of the images, environmental factors, the specific algorithm used, the thresholds or risk profile applied and many other factors. Possible matches produced by LFR systems are always checked by a human operator before deciding what, if any, action to take.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 24/05/2019 12:18:24 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1130261

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Stop and Search
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase stop and search policing in the UK following the recent rise in knife crime.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL16122
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government has introduced a number of important reforms since 2010 to help make stop and search more targeted and intelligence-led. Stop and search is now more effective - the arrest rate is at a historic high (17%) and 30% of all stops lead to a positive outcome (arrest, summons / charged by post, Caution, Khat or Cannabis Warning, Penalty Notice for Disorder or community resolution).</p><p><br>Stop and search is a vital policing tool when used correctly and officers have the Government's full support to use these powers in a way that is fair, lawful and effective.</p><p><br>That is why the Government announced changes to make it easier for officers in seven force areas particularly affected by serious violence to use Section 60 “no suspicion” time-limited stop and search powers in anticipation of serious violence.</p><p><br>The Metropolitan Police substantially increased their use of stop and search by 30% in 2018/19 (according to their own figures) and believe this has helped reduce homicides in London by 25%.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 18/06/2019 15:50:47 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1134709

	registered interest
	date	25/06/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Borders: Northern Ireland
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential for technological solutions for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL16676
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2019 answer text <p>Ministers and officials are continually assessing the use of technology in relation to the management of the border. The Government has established a Technical Alternative Arrangements Advisory Group of technical experts in customs and trade to test ideas,</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 09/07/2019 14:55:39 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1135755

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Cannabis: Misuse
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review policy surrounding the use of cannabis, including the implementation of tougher sentences and penalties for drug use.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL16848
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>As set out in the Drug Strategy 2017, the government has no plans to decriminalise cannabis. Tough enforcement is a fundamental part of our drug strategy. The possession of any amount of a controlled drug is a criminal offence and the supply of a controlled drug is an even more serious offence. We are taking a smarter approach to restricting the supply of drugs: adapting our approach to reflect changes in criminal activity; using innovative data and technology; and taking coordinated partnership action to tackle drugs alongside other criminal activity.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 15/07/2019 14:49:06 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1138298

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Emergency Services: Counselling
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce mandatory weekly counselling sessions for (1) frontline police officers in England and Wales, and (2) ambulance staff in England.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL17095
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>Front line police officers in England and Wales</p><p>Each Chief Constable has a duty to manage and support their workforce effectively, ensuring the welfare of all officers and staff. It is therefore for Chief Constables to determine the appropriate wellbeing and occupational health provision within their police forces, including access to counselling.</p><p>The Government takes the issue of police welfare very seriously and has invested in programmes which offer help directly to officers and staff. In July 2017 the Home Office awarded £7.5 million from the Police Transformation Fund to the College of Policing over three years to pilot and, if these pilots were successful, roll out a dedicated national service to help provide enhanced welfare support to serving police officers and staff.</p><p>Following two years of development and piloting, the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) was launched in April 2019. The NPWS has developed evidence-based guidance, advice, tools and resources which can be accessed by forces, as well as individual officers and staff.</p><p>Ambulance staff in England</p><p>Policy relating to ambulance staff is the responsibility of the Department for Health and Social Care.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 22/07/2019 16:08:12 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1138299

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Police: Technology
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to invest in technology provided to police officers.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL17096
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>The Home Office is working closely with policing on technology investment plans.</p><p>The current police settlement includes both a significant portfolio of Home Office led technology programmes as well as the Police Transformation Fund which supports a further group of national and local police led programmes. These are delivering transformational opportunities for officers including mobile communications, biometrics and programmes to improve contact with the public. As part of preparation for a spending review we are designing plans which build on these programmes as well as seeking innovative solutions to more complex problems.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 22/07/2019 16:08:44 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1139097

	registered interest
	date	15/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Organised Crime
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that there may be a rise in cross-border organised crime after Brexit; and if so, what steps they are taking to address this.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL17182
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government’s position remains that leaving with a deal, which includes ambitious internal security arrangements, is in the UK’s best interests.</p><p><br>We continue to work closely with operational partners to maintain readiness for a range of possible exit scenarios in October, including no deal. This includes taking into account risks associated with these scenarios.</p><p><br>The Home Office has therefore been working with operational partners to put in place contingency arrangements for a no deal scenario.</p><p><br>In a deal scenario, the UK would enter an implementation period during which we’d continue to use all the EU security tools we use now.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 23/07/2019 15:10:15 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1149761

	registered interest
	date	14/10/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Young People
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to prevent young people from carrying knives.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL54
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>We are taking determined action to tackle knife crime and other serious violence, including by preventing children and young people from gaining access to knives in the first place. It is already illegal to sell knives and certain articles with blade or point to anyone under 18 in England and Wales, whether face to face or online, and the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 will further strengthen the law by stopping knives being sent to residential addresses after being bought online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that the product will not be delivered to a person under 18. Through the Offensive Weapons Act, we will also introduce new Knife Crime Prevention Orders which will give the police an important new tool to help them to work with both young people and adults at risk of being drawn into knife crime to steer them away from serious violence.</p><p>It is vital that the police have the resources and tools they need to tackle knife crime, including possession of knives on our streets. This is why we have increased police funding by more than £1 billion this year, including council tax and the £100 million Serious Violence Fund. Through the Serious Violence Fund we have provided £63.4 million to the 18 police forces worst affected by serious violence to pay for surge operational activity, and £1.6 million to help improve the quality of data on serious violence, particularly knife crime, to support planning and operations. In addition, £35million of the Serious Violence Fund is being invested in Violence Reductions Units which will form a key component of our action to build capacity in local areas to tackle the root causes of serious violence.</p><p>We have also launched a national campaign to begin to recruit 20,000 new police officers over the next three years, and we are making it easier for the police to use their important stop and search powers which is a vital tool in tackling knife possession on our streets and in our local communities.</p><p>In addition, we continue to encourage all police forces to undertake a series of coordinated national weeks of action to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre. The latest phase of the operation took place from 17 to 22 September and included targeted stop and searches, weapon sweeps, and surrender of knives, including through amnesty bins. The operation also includes test purchase operations to identify those retailers who flout the law and sell knives to under 18s. Through our dedicated Prosecution Fund we are supporting Trading Standards to prosecute rogue retailers who repeatedly fail test purchases.</p><p>We are also addressing the root causes of serious violence by investing over £220 million in early intervention projects, and as announced in the Queen’s Speech, we are bringing forward a new Bill to introduce a new legal duty on public bodies to work together to prevent and tackle serious violence.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 28/10/2019 17:23:39 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1149845

	registered interest
	date	15/10/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Hate Crime: Disability
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce violent hate crime towards disabled people.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL137
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">We are taking determined action to tackle knife crime and other serious violence, including by preventing children and young people from gaining access to knives in the first place. It is already illegal to sell knives and certain articles with blade or point to anyone under 18 in England and Wales, whether face to face or online, and the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 will further strengthen the law by stopping knives being sent to residential addresses after being bought online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that the product will not be delivered to a person under 18. Through the Offensive Weapons Act, we will also introduce new Knife Crime Prevention Orders which will give the police an important new tool to help them to work with both young people and adults at risk of being drawn into knife crime to steer them away from serious violence.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">It is vital that the police have the resources and tools they need to tackle knife crime, including possession of knives on our streets. This is why we have increased police funding by more than £1 billion this year, including council tax and the £100 million Serious Violence Fund. Through the Serious Violence Fund we have provided £63.4 million to the 18 police forces worst affected by serious violence to pay for surge operational activity, and £1.6 million to help improve the quality of data on serious violence, particularly knife crime, to support planning and operations. In addition, £35million of the Serious Violence Fund is being invested in Violence Reductions Units which will form a key component of our action to build capacity in local areas to tackle the root causes of serious violence.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">We have also launched a national campaign to begin to recruit 20,000 new police officers over the next three years, and we are making it easier for the police to use their important stop and search powers which is a vital tool in tackling knife possession on our streets and in our local communities.In addition, we continue to encourage all police forces to undertake a series of coordinated national weeks of action to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre. The latest phase of the operation took place from 17 to 22 September and included targeted stop and searches, weapon sweeps, and surrender of knives, including through amnesty bins. The operation also includes test purchase operations to identify those retailers who flout the law and sell knives to under 18s. Through our dedicated Prosecution Fund we are supporting Trading Standards to prosecute rogue retailers who repeatedly fail test purchases.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">We are also addressing the root causes of serious violence by investing over £220 million in early intervention projects, and as announced in the Queen’s Speech, we are bringing forward a new Bill to introduce a new legal duty on public bodies to work together to prevent and tackle serious violence.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Any form of hate crime is completely unacceptable, and this Government takes hate crime very seriously.That is why the Government published the Hate Crime Action Plan in 2016, and refreshed it in October 2018.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Action Plan includes a number of commitments that address all forms of hate crime. These include a review of hate crime legislation by the Law Commission which commenced earlier this year, a public awareness campaign that included specific examples of disability hate crime to make it clear that it is unacceptable. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Additionally, the Action Plan includes specific plans to tackle disability hate crime, including increased engagement with disability stakeholders, hosting two ministerial roundtables with disability groups and social media companies to help tackle online abuse of disabled people, and providing funding for community projects that directly tackle disability hate crime.</ins></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 28/10/2019 17:23:01 question first ministerially corrected 29/10/2019 17:24:13 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford previous answer version 2221 answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1149965

	registered interest
	date	16/10/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Crime Prevention
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to prevent criminals exploiting a no-deal Brexit.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL166
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2019 answer text <p>The continued safety and security of our citizens remains the top priority.</p><p>We continue to work closely with operational partners, and engage with EU Member States, to ensure we are ready for a no deal scenario, keeping our planning under rigorous review.</p><p>We will transition our law enforcement cooperation with EU Member States to alternative non-EU arrangements, which include making more use of Interpol, Council of Europe instruments and other forms of co-operation with European partners, such as bilateral channels. Whilst these alternative arrangements are not like-for-like replacements, they are largely tried and tested mechanisms that we already use for cooperating with many non-EU countries.</p><p>Our law enforcement community have been and will continue to monitor, assess the potential response of organised crime groups (OCGs) to a no-deal situation.</p><p>Our preparations include extra funding for the National Crime Agency to build resilience in their international criminality bureau and international liaison network.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 30/10/2019 16:53:36 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick