To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Theft: Retail Trade
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle retail theft.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government recognises the significant impact shoplifting has on businesses, communities, and consumers. The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 51% compared to findings from the year ending March 2010.

However, Police Recorded Crime figures show shoplifting offences increased by 32% in the 12 months to September 2023. Statistics also show the number of people charged with shoplifting offences has risen by 34% in the year ending September 2023, showing that police are taking action.

We have recently taken significant steps to improve the police response to retail crime, including shoplifting.

In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all forces across England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.

This builds on the NPCC commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender, including shoplifting.

October also saw the launch of Pegasus, a unique private-public partnership, which involves retailers providing data, intelligence and evidence to Opal, the national police intelligence unit on organised acquisitive crime, to develop a better strategic picture and help forces crack down on serious offenders.

We are continuing to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG), which meets on a quarterly basis, to ensure the response to retail crime, including shoplifting, is as robust as it can be.


Written Question
Crime: Pharmacy
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the most common crimes that take place at community pharmacies.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office holds data on the number of offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, and collects and publishes data on crime affecting commercial business premises, including retail premises, in England and Wales as part of the Commercial Victimisation Survey.

Neither data source provides the level of detail necessary to identify crimes that take place in community pharmacies.

The Commercial Victimisation Survey provides the most reliable estimate of crime impacting wholesale and retail premises in England and Wales. The most recent available data, for the year 2022, is available online:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/crime-against-businesses-findings-from-the-2022-commercial-victimisation-survey.

The National Business Crime Centre has published guidance containing practical advice to help pharmacies identify risks and prevent crime, the guidance is published here: Pharmacies October 22.pdf (nbcc.police.uk).


Written Question
Visas: Ethnic Groups and Women
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Oral Statement of 4 December 2023 on Legal Migration, Official Report, column 41, and the report by the Migration Observatory entitled Family fortunes: The UK’s new income requirement for partner visas, published on 1 February 2024, whether he has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the increased Minimum Income Requirement on (a) women and (b) people belonging to specific ethnicities.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Any discussions that take place between Cabinet Ministers are confidential.

A full regulatory Impact Assessment will be developed, and the Government will publish an Equality Impact Assessment on this change, and both will be published in due course. We will continue to monitor the policy throughout its implementation.


Written Question
Visas: Equality
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Oral Statement of 4 December 2023 on Legal Migration, Official Report, column 41, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the increase to the minimum income requirement on (a) equality of opportunity and (b) reducing negative disparities.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Any discussions that take place between Cabinet Ministers are confidential.

A full regulatory Impact Assessment will be developed, and the Government will publish an Equality Impact Assessment on this change, and both will be published in due course. We will continue to monitor the policy throughout its implementation.


Written Question
Immigration: Databases
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate he has made of the number of individuals misidentified by the Home Office Person Centric Data Platform in the last 12 months.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Person Centric Data Platform (PCDP) holds millions of identities that have been submitted or otherwise provided in support of immigration applications. Individuals have not been ‘misidentified’ by the PCDP. Rather, the Home Office has for some time been aware of issues around ‘merged identity’ - where a single ‘identity island’ has been formed with data belonging to two or more individuals.

The ‘merged identities’ issue affects around 0.02% of PCDP customer records - over 99.98% of records are not impacted by this issue. We have identified around 46,000 records with an identity issue, of which over 13,000 have already been resolved and we have a dedicated team working on the remainder.

The Home Office takes data security and accuracy very seriously. We continue detailed analysis to identify erroneous PCDP records so that appropriate remedial work can be undertaken as quickly, and as carefully, as possible.

Where customers identify an issue with their data, we encourage them to contact the UK Visas and Immigration Contact Centre to enable this to be investigated and resolved.


Written Question
Immigration: Databases
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to rectify the misidentification of individuals by the Home Office Person Centric Data Platform.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Person Centric Data Platform (PCDP) holds millions of identities that have been submitted or otherwise provided in support of immigration applications. Individuals have not been ‘misidentified’ by the PCDP. Rather, the Home Office has for some time been aware of issues around ‘merged identity’ - where a single ‘identity island’ has been formed with data belonging to two or more individuals.

The ‘merged identities’ issue affects around 0.02% of PCDP customer records - over 99.98% of records are not impacted by this issue. We have identified around 46,000 records with an identity issue, of which over 13,000 have already been resolved and we have a dedicated team working on the remainder.

The Home Office takes data security and accuracy very seriously. We continue detailed analysis to identify erroneous PCDP records so that appropriate remedial work can be undertaken as quickly, and as carefully, as possible.

Where customers identify an issue with their data, we encourage them to contact the UK Visas and Immigration Contact Centre to enable this to be investigated and resolved.


Written Question
Muslims: Safety
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's news story of 11 March 2024 entitled Government commits more funding to protect UK Muslims, what the eligibility criteria for applications for that funding will be; how bids for funding will be (a) assessed and (b) decided upon; and which Government department will be responsible for providing that funding.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

In light of increased reports of anti-Muslim hatred following the start of the Israel/Hamas conflict, an additional £4.9 million was made available in October for protective security at mosques and Muslim faith schools, bringing total funding available for 2023/24 to £29.4 million. The Government has confirmed that this level of funding will now be maintained annually through to 2027/28.

Mosques and Muslim faith community centres can register for protective security measures through the Home Office’s Protective Security for Mosques Scheme on GOV.UK. The scheme provides physical protective security measures, such as CCTV, intruder alarms and secure perimeter fencing. Due diligence checks are carried out by the Home Office; for example, to confirm that applicants are eligible registered charities. Following approval, applicants receive a site survey to assess the most suitable security measures for their site, which are funded by the Home Office and installed by the Department’s delivery partner. Security officer services will also become available through the scheme later this year.


Written Question
Visas: Graduates
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the economic impact of scrapping the Graduate Route.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), led by Professor Brian Bell, has been commissioned to provide further evidence to support the Government’s understanding of how the Graduate route is operating in practice and to what extent it is supporting the original objectives.

No decisions have been made on the future of the Graduate route. We will consider evidence put forward by the MAC closely and ensure any policy proposals are subject to rigorous assessment of their impacts.


Written Question
Visas: Graduates
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason he requested that Professor Brian Bell undertake a rapid review of the Graduate route.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), led by Professor Brian Bell, has been commissioned to provide further evidence to support the Government’s understanding of how the Graduate route is operating in practice and to what extent it is supporting the original objectives.

No decisions have been made on the future of the Graduate route. We will consider evidence put forward by the MAC closely and ensure any policy proposals are subject to rigorous assessment of their impacts.


Written Question
Visas: Personal Income
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Colum Eastwood (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the evidential basis is for increasing the minimum income requirement (MIR) to £38,700 for certain family and work visas; if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the MIR on those affected in (a) Derry City and Strabane and (b) other regions where average gross annual earnings are below the national average; and if he will ensure that the Government's planned impact assessment of increasing the MIR includes an equality impact assessment.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Analytical work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process. A fact sheet and an initial assessment on the impact of the changes on immigration can be found on GOV.UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fact-sheet-on-net-migration-measures-further-detail

and

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts-accessible.

A full Regulatory Impact Assessment on these changes has been developed and the Government will publish this alongside an Equality Impact Assessment on this change, both in due course.