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1700042

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Crime: Preston
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle violence and sexual offences in Preston.
tabling member constituency	Preston
tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
uin	20892
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>As part of steps taken through our Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, we are tackling perpetrators and supporting victims.</p><p>We have provided funding to the Lancashire PCC to roll out the Drive Project, which focuses on the most serious domestic abuse offenders to prevent them from abusing again, and funded Preston based Saraha to provide bilingual, comprehensive, face-to-face support service for women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds who are victims of domestic abuse.</p><p>Nationally, we have invested £9.4 million to develop a New Operation Model for the investigation of rape through Operation Soteria. This ensures investigations are suspect based. All police forces in England and Wales are now implementing this new approach to rape investigations and we have provided £8.5m in 2023/24 to continue to support policing to improve their response to rape.</p><p>Through the Safer Streets and Safety of Women at Night Funds, we have invested over £150 million to deliver interventions to tackle violence against women, anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood crime.</p><p>This includes just over £3.4m for Lancashire, of which £146,568 has been awarded to Preston City Council to fund interventions such as the installation of CCTV, the deployment of taxi stewards and night-time economy sector training, along with improvements to accommodation for services assisting women at risk and recovery services for victims of sexual violence.</p><p>Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £8m for a Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in Lancashire. VRUs bring together local partners to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area, including sexual abuse and domestic abuse.</p> answering member constituency Newbury answering member printed Laura Farris question first answered 22/04/2024 16:52:52 answering member 4826 label Biography information for Laura Farris
tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

1700043

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Crime: Lancashire
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will (a) make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of crime levels in (i) Preston and (ii) Lancashire and (b) take steps to develop a plan to reduce bicycle theft in those areas.
tabling member constituency	Preston
tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
uin	20893
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>This Government recognises the impact acquisitive crime can have on individuals and communities. The 2021 Beating Crime Plan, sets out the Government’s strategy for cutting crime, protecting the law-abiding majority and making neighbourhoods safe. The plan can be found here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1015382/Crime-plan-v10.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1015382/Crime-plan-v10.pdf</a>.</p><p>Since 2010, overall crime excluding fraud and computer misuse is down by 55%, and we welcome the latest Crime Survey for England and Wales data, which shows that bicycle theft is also down 55% when comparing findings from the year ending September 2023 with the year ending March 2010.</p><p>A key part of making acquisitive crime less attractive to criminals is making stolen goods harder to sell on. That is why we are working closely with policing and academic leads to examine what more can be done to tackle the disposal markets for stolen goods and reduce the profit from acquisitive crime.</p><p>This Government also established the Safer Streets Fund. Since its inception in 2020, we have invested over £150 million to deliver interventions across England and Wales helping to tackle and prevent violence against women and girls, anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood crime. This includes investing just over £3.4 million in Lancashire, funding a range of initiatives such as CCTV and street lighting, improvements to home security measures and youth engagement and educational programmes.</p><p>The Home Office is working closely with the British Transport Police (BTP), the national lead for cycle theft, to tackle the theft of bicycles. The BTP has launched the ‘double lock it’ campaign with police forces and organisations, providing advice to owners on how to protect their bicycles: <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.btp.police.uk%2Fpolice-forces%2Fbritish-transport-police%2Fareas%2Fcampaigns%2Fdouble-lock-it%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7CKhadijah.Ishaq%40homeoffice.gov.uk%7C1ccecdb003ac4b99f13408da6a427512%7Cf24d93ecb2914192a08af182245945c2%7C0%7C0%7C637939130897619209%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=AJnmVh0mAoSustcSga%2Fo4B42WRZDoPpL%2B5gyHecq5fA%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/campaigns/double-lock-it/</a>.</p><p>The Department for Transport’s (DfT) Cycling and Walking Plan for England, also sets out initiatives to combat cycle theft, including encouraging retailers to number the bicycles they sell and offer customers the opportunity to register their bicycle on a database at the point of sale. The Plan is available here: <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fcycling-and-walking-plan-for-england&amp;data=05%7C01%7CKhadijah.Ishaq%40homeoffice.gov.uk%7C1ccecdb003ac4b99f13408da6a427512%7Cf24d93ecb2914192a08af182245945c2%7C0%7C0%7C637939130897619209%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=gfeelBYDwqb9gRWXC3kYh%2Fdle%2BGk48CB5C3gqfvqR2o%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cycling-and-walking-plan-for-england</a>.</p><p>The BTP-led National Cycle Crime Group, working with DfT, have set up Cycle Crime Reduction Partnerships across the country to coordinate regional enforcement activity to disrupt organised cycle theft.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 22/04/2024 14:41:04 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

1700044

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Anti-social Behaviour: Lancashire
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 help ensure that anti-social behaviour is investigated in (a) Preston and (b) Lancashire.
tabling member constituency	Preston
tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
uin	20894
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>The investigation of anti-social behaviour in Lancashire is a matter for the Chief Constable of Lancashire Constabulary and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire.</p><p>Last year the Government launched the Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social-behaviour-action-plan" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social-behaviour-action-plan</a>) ensuring the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies have the tools they need to tackle anti-social behaviour.</p><p>The Plan is backed by £160m of funding. This includes funding an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we worked with 10 police force areas, including Lancashire Constabulary which received £1,050,000. From April this has been extended to every police force in England and Wales and Lancashire will receive £ 1,713,512 for the hotspot programme tackling areas of high incidents of both ASB and serious violence.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 22/04/2024 14:31:34 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

1700058

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Wildlife: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to incorporate wildlife crime into the Policing Education Qualification Framework.
tabling member constituency	Romford
tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
uin	20922
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>This Government recognises the importance of tackling wildlife crime, which is why, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Home Office directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) to help tackle these crimes.</p><p>The NWCU provides intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to the police and other law enforcement agencies across the UK to support them in investigating wildlife crime. This includes supporting cases referred by Border Force to the National Crime Agency or to individual forces. The NWCU is also the UK policing focal point for EUROPOL and INTERPOL wildlife crime activity.</p><p>In addition, the National Police Chiefs’ Council Wildlife and Rural Crime Strategy 2022-2025 provides a framework through which policing, and its partners, can work together to tackle the most prevalent threats and emerging issues which predominantly affect rural communities.</p><p>Training standards and the national policing curriculum (covering initial training for all officers) are set by the College of Policing to ensure all officers benefit from the same high standard of initial training, regardless of which force they join. Officers undertake further training and development in the course of their career, which may be tailored to their specific role.</p><p>We do not currently have plans to incorporate wildlife crime into the Policing Education Qualification Framework.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 22/04/2024 14:35:59 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

1700066

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Immigration Controls: Belgium and France
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with his (a) French and (b) Belgian counterparts on the use of European Union passport e-gates by British nationals in (i) the European Union and (ii) Gare du Nord station.
tabling member constituency	Romford
tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
uin	20926
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>The Home Office and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office continue to engage with European counterparts on expanding access to e-Gates for British nationals travelling to the EU.</p><p>The use of e-Gates for third country nationals is decided by EU Member States on a country-by-country basis. British nationals are already able to use e-Gates at Gare du Nord station.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 22/04/2024 11:50:50 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

1700079

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Knives: Sales
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of the enforcement of regulations on the sale of bladed items (a) to and (b) by persons under the age of 18.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	20903
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2024 answer text <p>Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £5 million of funding for a Violence Reduction Unit in Wales (known as the Wales Violence Prevention Unit (VPU)) which is providing a multi-agency, preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of serious violence and knife crime. Over the same period, we have invested c.£3.5 million (including c.£535k in 2023/24) in ‘hotspot policing’ to boost the policing response to serious violence in South Wales. In 24/25, we are providing c.£4.4 million of funding to all force areas in Wales under the Hotspot Response fund to deliver high-visibility patrols and problem-solving tactics in the streets and neighbourhoods worst affected by serious violence and Anti Social Behaviour.</p><p>The Wales VPU is tasked with investing in evidence-based approaches designed to steer vulnerable young people away from involvement in violence. As part of this approach, the VPU is funding local interventions including A&amp;E Navigators, delivering advice, support and guidance to patients of any age who have experienced violence with injury, with the aim of engaging with those injured whilst they are in hospital to help break the cycle of violence at the point of crisis. The VPU is also funding youth workers to deliver sessions to young people within both education and community settings covering issues such as knife crime. Additionally, just under £1m was awarded in 2023/24 to support delivery of the Serious Violence Duty across Wales.</p><p>We have also introduced new legislation which, subject to parliamentary approval, will ban zombie-style knives and machetes from 24 September 2024. Through the Criminal Justice Bill 2023, we are providing more powers for police to seize knives held in private that they believe will be used for unlawful violence, increasing the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s and creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to commit unlawful violence.</p><p>It is an offence to sell bladed articles to people under the age of 18 and with measures in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 we strengthened the requirements for age verification, and made it an offence to send bladed articles to residential addresses after they are bought online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that the product would not be delivered into the hands of a person under 18. This legislation is enforced by Trading Standards and the police. The Home Office does not hold enforcement data in relation to breaches of this legislation.</p><p>The Online Safety Act 2023 has finished its parliamentary passage and received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. The Government's intention is to have the regime operational as soon as possible.</p><p>Ofcom published the first draft codes of practice on illegal content for consultation on 9 November 2023. The Government expects these to be finalised in late 2024. These codes of practice will set out the steps companies can take to fulfil the duties for illegal content. In scope services will either need to follow these codes, or show their approach is equally effective. Tech companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content. This means less illegal content online and when it does appear it will be removed quicker.</p><p>Schedule 7 of the Act sets out a series of priority offences which includes the sale of weapons. Companies will need to take particularly robust action to prevent the proliferation of this content online and ensure that their services are not used for offending. This means companies will need to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share this illegal content, to design their services to mitigate the risk of this occurring and to remove any content that does appear as soon as they are made aware of it.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 20904 question first answered 17/04/2024 15:22:25 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1700080

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Knives: 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 help tackle (a) knife crime by and (b) the online sale of bladed weapons to people under the age of 18 in Wales.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	20904
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2024 answer text <p>Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £5 million of funding for a Violence Reduction Unit in Wales (known as the Wales Violence Prevention Unit (VPU)) which is providing a multi-agency, preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of serious violence and knife crime. Over the same period, we have invested c.£3.5 million (including c.£535k in 2023/24) in ‘hotspot policing’ to boost the policing response to serious violence in South Wales. In 24/25, we are providing c.£4.4 million of funding to all force areas in Wales under the Hotspot Response fund to deliver high-visibility patrols and problem-solving tactics in the streets and neighbourhoods worst affected by serious violence and Anti Social Behaviour.</p><p>The Wales VPU is tasked with investing in evidence-based approaches designed to steer vulnerable young people away from involvement in violence. As part of this approach, the VPU is funding local interventions including A&amp;E Navigators, delivering advice, support and guidance to patients of any age who have experienced violence with injury, with the aim of engaging with those injured whilst they are in hospital to help break the cycle of violence at the point of crisis. The VPU is also funding youth workers to deliver sessions to young people within both education and community settings covering issues such as knife crime. Additionally, just under £1m was awarded in 2023/24 to support delivery of the Serious Violence Duty across Wales.</p><p>We have also introduced new legislation which, subject to parliamentary approval, will ban zombie-style knives and machetes from 24 September 2024. Through the Criminal Justice Bill 2023, we are providing more powers for police to seize knives held in private that they believe will be used for unlawful violence, increasing the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s and creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to commit unlawful violence.</p><p>It is an offence to sell bladed articles to people under the age of 18 and with measures in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 we strengthened the requirements for age verification, and made it an offence to send bladed articles to residential addresses after they are bought online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that the product would not be delivered into the hands of a person under 18. This legislation is enforced by Trading Standards and the police. The Home Office does not hold enforcement data in relation to breaches of this legislation.</p><p>The Online Safety Act 2023 has finished its parliamentary passage and received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. The Government's intention is to have the regime operational as soon as possible.</p><p>Ofcom published the first draft codes of practice on illegal content for consultation on 9 November 2023. The Government expects these to be finalised in late 2024. These codes of practice will set out the steps companies can take to fulfil the duties for illegal content. In scope services will either need to follow these codes, or show their approach is equally effective. Tech companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content. This means less illegal content online and when it does appear it will be removed quicker.</p><p>Schedule 7 of the Act sets out a series of priority offences which includes the sale of weapons. Companies will need to take particularly robust action to prevent the proliferation of this content online and ensure that their services are not used for offending. This means companies will need to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share this illegal content, to design their services to mitigate the risk of this occurring and to remove any content that does appear as soon as they are made aware of it.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 20903 question first answered 17/04/2024 15:22:25 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1700084

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Visas: Graduates
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the impact of the (a) removal of the ability of students on taught masters courses to bring dependants and (b) increase in (i) visa and (ii) Immigration Health Surcharge fees on levels of demand for the Graduate visa.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	20961
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>An Impact Assessment has been prepared to accompany the dependant changes to the Student route, announced in May 2023, which came into force in January 2024. The Impact Assessment will be published in due course.</p><p>Impact assessments estimating the impacts of increasing visa fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge were published alongside the explanatory material for the changes. These can be found at <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/1004/impacts" target="_blank">The Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2023 - Impact Assessment (legislation.gov.uk)</a> and <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2023/9780348252637/impacts" target="_blank">The Immigration (Health Charge) (Amendment) Order 2023 - Impact Assessment (legislation.gov.uk)</a>.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 22/04/2024 13:01:57 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1700152

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Spiking
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is taking steps to ensure that people who are arrested are tested to see if their drink has been spiked.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	21133
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>The Home Office has no plans to implement mandatory spiking testing for arrestees.</p><p>We urge anyone who believes they or someone around them has been spiked to contact the police as soon as possible to report the incident and submit a urine sample for testing through the approved lab-based process. Incidents can also be reported online - including anonymously.</p><p>Individuals who have been arrested by the police but believe they have been spiked can raise this with them and submit a sample for testing.</p> answering member constituency Newbury answering member printed Laura Farris question first answered 22/04/2024 16:53:07 answering member 4826 label Biography information for Laura Farris
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1700162

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Immigration Controls: Religion
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to engage with the (a) Jewish, (b) Muslim, (c) Sikh and (d) other religious communities on their treatment by border officials.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	21209
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>The Home Office seeks to engage and consult with all communities and members of the public in developing our policies and services for the public. This includes people from different religious communities. We also ensure that there are equality impact assessments carried out when developing new policies and making important decisions which impact the public in line with our statutory duties under the Equality Act 2010.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 22/04/2024 12:58:51 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi