Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of quad bike theft in the UK; and what research they have undertaken, if any, on whether stolen quad bikes are being sold on (1) within the UK, or (2) overseas.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
No statistics are held on the levels of quad bike thefts, nor has research been undertaken on where stolen quad bikes are sold.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the total compensation payments arising from the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 and the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The rounded total of compensation payments made under the two Acts was £97 million.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what classes of person can (1) verify identity in relation to a passport application; (2) verify the identity of a driving licence applicant; and (3) certify the character of an applicant for a firearms certificate.
Answered by Lord Bates
The passport application and issuing process is subject to a number of checks to confirm identity, including the requirement on the applicant to provide a countersignatory. The criteria for a countersignatory are set out in the guidance published at www.gov.uk and lists examples for recognised professions.
Information on who may act as a referee for an applicant for a firearms certificate is detailed in paragraphs 10.9-10.19 of the Guide on Firearms Licensing Law 2015. Information on those whom may act as a referee for an applicant for a shotgun certificate is detailed at paragraphs 11.7-11.15 of the same guide.
The person signing the driving license application form and photo must be resident in the UK, know the applicant personally, not be a relative and not live at the same address as the applicant. This might include civil servant, bank or building society staff, local business person or shopkeeper, teacher, lawyer or engineer.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have the power or ability to refer Operation Midland to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Home Office is unable to refer matters to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and cannot comment on individual cases which are a matter for individual forces.
Schedule 3 to the Police Reform Act 2002 places a duty on the appropriate authority to refer a matter to the IPCC under certain prescribed circumstances. The appropriate authority would usually be the chief constable or, where the complaint or conduct matter relates to a chief officer, the local policing body for the force in question.
The appropriate authority may also refer a complaint to the IPCC if it considers it appropriate to do so because of the gravity of the subject-matter or there are any exceptional circumstances involved. Where the appropriate authority is the chief constable and a case is not referred, the local policing body for the force may refer the matter to the Commission on the same grounds. The IPCC can, at any time, require the appropriate authority to refer a matter to it for consideration.
As part of the measures to strengthen the powers of the IPCC in the forthcoming Policing and Crime Bill, the IPCC will in future have the power to investigate allegations of police misconduct, death or serious injury and complaints against the police without first awaiting or requiring a referral from a force.