Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help (a) discover and (b) seize cannabis farms.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Local police forces and Regional Organised Crime Units deliver the bulk of enforcement and seizure activity against cannabis production and supply. The Home Office has provided funding to enable Operation Mille which is one of the most significant operations of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups (OCG) by identifying and dismantling large-scale cannabis farms which provide a key source of illicit income.
Since June 2023, in Phases 1-3 of the operation, police have executed 1,368 search warrants and arrested over 1,000 individuals. They have also seized a significant number of cannabis farms including the recovery of over 100,000 cannabis plants worth over £100 million, as well £1m in cash and many weapons including 14 firearms.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of support available to police who attend callouts to attempted suicides.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has been clear that the health and wellbeing of our police is a priority and that those who have faced suicide-related incidents in the line of duty receive the support they need to recover and continue serving.
We continue to fund the National Police Wellbeing Service, which has developed an evidenced-based trauma support model which is now available to forces. The Service has also introduced a Trauma Tracker tool to help forces better understand exposure to traumatic incidents and ensure timely support for officers and staff.
Chief Constables have a responsibility to manage their workforce effectively and this includes ensuring appropriate training provision for all officers and staff and ensuring their wellbeing.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions her Department has had with police forces on the adequacy of the steps they are taking to deter incidents of arson in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Steps taken by Surrey Police to deter arson is an operational matter for the police force, working with the fire service and other partners.
Asked by: Mike Reader (Labour - Northampton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children born in the UK have at least one parent with indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information requested is not centrally held.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 30 September (HL10502), why they do not publish the number of individuals granted seasonal worker visas in each of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; and whether they plan to publish that disaggregated data.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account several factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 30 September (HL10502), why they do not publish data on the number of individuals who overstay their seasonal worker visa, and whether they plan to publish such data.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account several factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 30 September (HL10502), what assessment they have made of the risk of people who receive a seasonal worker visa overstaying, and what steps they are taking to prevent overstaying on those visas.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Seasonal Worker route is an operator led immigration route with six Scheme Operators responsible for selecting suitable workers from overseas. UK Visas and Immigration closely monitor the performance of the Scheme Operators to ensure high standards of returns are maintained.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to start the consultation on the proposed changes to the rules governing indefinite leave to remain set out in the White Paper Restoring Control over the Immigration System, published on 12 May (CP 1326).
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We will be consulting on the new settlement rules later this year.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what formal arrangements exist between (a) the Home Office, (b) the NHS and (c) Braintree Community Hospital for (i) scanning and (ii) x-rays of asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airbase.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Asylum seekers have access to health and social care services from point of arrival in the UK and the Home Office work closely with the NHS, local authorities and contractors to ensure that asylum seekers can access the support they need. In relation to Wethersfield, financial support is being provided to the NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board.
There are varying entitlements to secondary healthcare services across England and the devolved governments. Specific examples can be found on NHS entitlements: migrant health guide - GOV.UK.
Extensive work has been undertaken with local and national health partners including the Multi Agency Forum (MAF) to work through the specifics of healthcare provision being provided at Wethersfield. The health and social care subgroup of the MAF was set up specifically to look at how we minimise the impact on local health services and facilitate primary healthcare on site, However, in specific circumstances, residents can be required to use local NHS facilities.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps with mobile phone companies to introduce a (a) single and (b) central emergency telephone number paid for by mobile phone (i) operators and (ii) manufacturers to allow reporting by victims of unlocked mobile phone theft to report those thefts immediately; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on (A) (1) financial and (2) personal data theft and (ii) the number of police hours dedicated to mobile phone crimes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary and Policing Minister are determined to take the strongest possible action to reduce the number of phone thefts in London and elsewhere across the country.
This is a crime that causes significant distress to victims and fuels wider criminality. That’s why we are driving greater collaboration between policing leaders, the Metropolitan Police, National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, leading tech companies and others to break the business model of mobile phone thieves. This has included exploring what technical interventions would be most effective, including discussion around improving reporting mechanisms when a mobile phone is stolen. Positive developments include commitments to improving visibility of unique identification numbers/IMEIs to help identify stolen devices and raising awareness of existing mechanisms for reporting the theft of mobile devices, which include calling 101, going to a local police station or reporting the crime anonymously via Crimestoppers.
All stakeholders must play their part in designing out and disincentivising this type of theft, disrupting the resale of stolen phones, exploring technological solutions to make devices harder to re-register or resell, and helping the public protect themselves and the data and personal information on their devices.