Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to introduce places of safety for people leaving immediate situations of exploitation before deciding whether to enter the National Referral Mechanism.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Potential victims of modern slavery who have entered the NRM, and need emergency accommodation, particularly those who are vulnerable and are leaving immediate situations of exploitation, will receive accommodation support in line with the Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance.
The Home Office is reviewing the policy options and commencement of places of safety.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that survivors of domestic abuse are supported to report that abuse to the police.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Domestic abuse is a horrific crime and improving the response to domestic abuse is a key priority. That is why we introduced our landmark Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (the Act), which will provide further protections to the millions of people who experience domestic abuse and strengthen measures to bring perpetrators to justice, as well as transform the support we give to victims ensuring they have the protection they deserve.
We expect police to treat all victims of domestic abuse with the sensitivity and compassion they deserve, which plays an important part in encouraging victims and survivors to report. Therefore, to strengthen the police response to domestic abuse and as part of our commitment in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan 2022 to support the development and further rollout of the Domestic Abuse Matters training, we have committed up to £3.3 million up to 2025 to bolster and encourage the uptake of this training in forces. We will beprioritising funding for those forces who have yet to undertake the training. As part of this commitment, we are also funding the development of a newmodule of the training that is targeted at officers investigating domestic abuse offences to enable further improvement in police responses to domesticabuse incidents.
The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS), also known as Clare’s Law enables the police to disclose information to a victim or potential victim of domestic abuse about their partner’s or ex-partner’s previous abusive or violent offending either following a request for information by a victim, potential victim or an associated third party or following the police being in receipt of information requiring a disclosure. We have recently commenced section 77 of the Act which places the guidance which underpins the DVDS into statute and published updated guidance ahead of this. This places a duty on the police to apply the guidance unless there is good reason not to and will strengthen the visibility and consistent operation of the scheme. The guidance also makes clear that safeguarding the victim or potential victim is, at all times, a priority.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the potential link between (a) animal abuse and (b) domestic violence; and if she will make a written statement.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) including domestic abuse is a government priority. VAWG is an unacceptable, preventable issue which blights the lives of millions.
Our Domestic Abuse Act became law in April 2021. This is a truly game changing piece of legislation which transforms our response to victims in every region in England and Wales and ensures perpetrators can be brought to justice. The Act also expands the definition of controlling or coercive behaviour to victims who do not live with their abuser. Domestic abuse can affect all parts of a victim’s life and relationships including, for example, through threats and harm to pets.
In July 2022 we published statutory guidance to accompany the legislation and to provide explanation of the different characteristics of domestic abuse, which includes reference to how pets may be used by perpetrators.
During the passage of the then Domestic Abuse Bill, Dogs Trust submitted written evidence highlighting that available research indicates a link between abuse to pets and abuse to people in the context of domestic abuse, for example they carried out a survey of domestic abuse professionals which found that 49% of them had been aware of cases where pets had been killed.
The Government is also committed to animal welfare. Whilst the Government has not made a formal assessment of existing research into the link between those who commit domestic abuse offences and those who commit animal welfare offences, as a reflection of the seriousness with which we take cruelty against our animals we supported the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act which received royal assent in April 2022.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of (a) the effectiveness of the share code system and (b) the adequacy of the IT system which supports it.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
We monitor the use of the online status services, including through user feedback, research, and testing. This feedback is used to inform improvements to the services. We also monitor usage volumes and user satisfaction scores for our online services, and publish them as part of the Home Office’s transparency data. Most users can generate and check share codes quickly and easily.
If an individual is unable to provide a share code due to a technical issue, they can contact the UKVI Resolution Centre, which is open seven days a week for telephone and email enquiries.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of police officers in the London Borough of Havering.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government committed to recruiting 20,000 additional police officers across England and Wales, by 31 March 2023.
We await the final data, however we remain confident we will have delivered this commitment by the end of March 2023. This will take us to over 148,400 officers across England and Wales, the highest number of officers on record in history.
Through the police uplift, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has grown its officer workforce. When compared with its pre-Police uplift peak of 33,820 officers in March 2010, the MPS now has 35,160 officers as at 31 December 2022.
Decisions on how to use police resources including officer deployment are operational matters for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners. In the case of the MPS, the Commissioner and the Mayor of London exercise these functions respectively.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her proposals to ban the use of nitrous oxide, what the exceptions will be for legal use of nitrous oxide; and whether those exceptions include motorsport.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
As stated in the Government’s response to the ACMD’s nitrous oxide review on 27 March, the Government agrees that given the widespread legitimate use of nitrous oxide, it is critical that we consult to understand how best to avoid over-burdening those who need it.
We will shortly consult on controlling nitrous oxide and how best to protect people and communities from the harmful effects, while exempting legitimate uses to minimise any potential burden. We are already aware of legitimate uses in motorsport and we would encourage individuals and businesses involved in that sector to contribute their views to the consultation. The consultation will be available on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many reported instances of car theft there have been in the London Borough of Havering in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of ‘Theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle’ offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, broken down by Community Safety Partnership area, on a quarterly basis.
This includes the London Borough of Having and the latest figures can be accessed here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the projected cost of plans to house asylum seekers on a boat on the River Mersey at Wirral Waters.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The United Kingdom has a legal obligation to provide asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute with accommodation and other support whilst their claim for asylum is being considered.
Ongoing work across government is being undertaken to identify and secure more appropriate, cost-effective accommodation options. In exploring potential alternative large sites, we continue to consider all available options to source appropriate and cost-effective temporary accommodation, including the option of the usage of vessels. Considerations regarding design, usage and cost are ongoing.
Asked by: Baroness Harman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her department has taken to reduce the waiting time for people awaiting (a) a substantive interview and (b) an initial decision on their asylum claim.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
To further accelerate decision making we are driving productivity improvements by streamlining interviews, simplifying processes, and dealing with cases more swiftly where they are certified as clearly unfounded.
We have already doubled our decision makers over the last 2 years, and we are continuing to recruit more. This will take our expected number of decision makers to 1,800 by summer and 2,500 by September 2023.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure the welfare of people using Seasonal Worker visas (a) at their point of recruitment in their countries of origin and (b) recruited through licenced scheme operators; and if she will take steps to provide additional welfare protections for people recruited through third party recruiters used by licenced scheme operators.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The sponsor licence regime places a broad range of responsibilities on Scheme Operators to ensure that the rights of migrant workers are protected.
The UK government however has no legal jurisdiction to regulate recruitment taking place outside of the United Kingdom. Although the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) has no remit to investigate labour abuse and exploitation in other countries, it nonetheless works through our Embassies to put relevant regulatory bodies in contact with their opposite numbers.
We have made ongoing enhancements to the worker welfare protections throughout the lifetime of the Seasonal Work route and we are continuing to keep the route under close review.