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1683330

registered interest
date	18/01/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Crime: Wales
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to increase (a) charge rates and (b) support for victims of crime in (i) Newport West and (ii) Wales.
tabling member constituency	Newport West
tabling member printed	Ruth Jones
uin	10540
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/01/2024 answer text <p>(a) We are working with partners across the CJS to increase the number of cases being charged and prosecuted, and reduce the time taken to reach this point. We are freeing up the police from unnecessary burdens, such as through the Right Care Right Person model for mental health, so they can focus on keeping the public safe, and are investing in technology to speed up police’s work on case files, such as automating redaction. We also welcome the recent commitment from police forces across England and Wales to pursue all leads where there is a reasonable chance it could result in catching a perpetrator and solving a crime (<a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fnews%2Fpolice-pledge-to-pursue-any-reasonable-lead-to-solve-more-crime&amp;data=05%7C02%7CRaveena.Chhokar%40homeoffice.gov.uk%7C621139694aa842afd00108dc1e75bdca%7Cf24d93ecb2914192a08af182245945c2%7C0%7C0%7C638418738366957910%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=WwKKmuMWqLoNLiQyAqQDXwmYBz5xGuUx1K4%2F7FxQYnw%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Police pledge to pursue any reasonable lead to solve more crime - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>.</p><p>(b) We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. There are over 149,000 officers in England and Wales, which is higher than the previous peak before the Police Uplift Programme, in March 2010. At 30 September 2023, Gwent police had 1,527 officers and all forces in Wales had a total of 8,108 officers.</p><p>(c) Protecting victims and improving their experience and the support they receive is a key priority for the Government. We recognise the importance of victims having access to the support they may need to cope and recover from the impact of crime. The Government is quadrupling funding for victim services by 2024/25, up from £41 million in 2009/10.</p><p>The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) provides all Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales with grant funding to commission victim support services for victims of all crime types. PCCs are best placed to understand their local communities and providers, and to commission appropriate support to meet that need. The total allocation for Gwent PCC for 22/23 was £1,306,258.40.</p><p>We have also recommissioned the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF), which is providing £26 million between August 2023 and March 2025 to more than 60 specialist sexual violence victim support services across England and Wales.  Further details on the breakdown of funding, including which services are funded in Wales can be found in the <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Frape-and-sexual-abuse-support-fund-2023-to-2025-organisations-awarded-funding%2Forganisations-awarded-funding-from-the-rape-and-sexual-abuse-support-fund-rasasf-august-2023-to-march-2025&amp;data=05%7C02%7CJayne.Baldock%40homeoffice.gov.uk%7C8dc720808e734a691c7008dc18fe7d75%7Cf24d93ecb2914192a08af182245945c2%7C0%7C0%7C638412728508199696%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=MuuFHrt8JxLw3huRO8fkCxOb4%2FZtIol6lMt9Z49Es9k%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">data on organisations awarded funding from the RASASF</a></p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 26/01/2024 14:56:52 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4716 label Biography information for Ruth Jones

1329781

registered interest
date	04/06/2021
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what due diligence checks her Department carried out on Prepaid Financial Services prior to the award of the Aspen card contract; and how many other applicants there were for that contract.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	10540
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2021 answer text <p>Service Users were notified of the transition to the new Aspen cards well in advance of the transition and a significant majority of service users have now successfully received and activated their new card. For those who are not in receipt of an activated card and for any service user who required an emergency cash payment, funds were issued to cover the period until a new card arrives and / or it is successfully activated.</p><p>Additionally, accommodation providers are conducting welfare checks in which they will ensure those eligible for asylum support payments have received their new card and they understand how to activate it. We will continue to share data with our providers to ensure they prioritise the appropriate welfare/safeguarding checks.</p><p>Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) continue to support the Home Office in rolling out new ASPEN cards to asylum accommodation addresses. They have recently amended processes to ensure service users have increased opportunities to activate cards or avoid card cancellations. They have also agreed to facilitate bulk issue of cards to accommodation blocks to ensure activation for particular user groups.</p><p>Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) were awarded the contract for a new prepaid card service following an open and competitive tendering process which included due diligence checks. The Home Office utilised a Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Framework with 4 suppliers to conduct the tendering exercise and in total, three suppliers on the Framework (including Prepaid Financial Services) made a bid for the Support Payments Card (SPC) contract.</p><p>The Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) solution is a well-established Mastercard pre-paid card used by organisations across the UK as well as abroad in schemes involving refugees and vulnerable persons. The Home Office systems underwent 5 months of rigorous testing to integrate with Home Office systems incorporating technical and operational scenarios.</p><p>The programme utilised a number of data sources and the operation is managing implementation through internal databases therefore we do not currently have the people we support broken down by a particular category. Whilst, we are satisfied the majority have activated cards, we continue to provide direct access to the Home Office for local authorities via Strategic Migration Partnerships and third sector partners to ensure payments to those with vulnerabilities are prioritised.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster grouped question UIN 10538 10539 10541 10542 question first answered 14/06/2021 15:46:51 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes