Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to producing a rural crime strategy which would be fully integrated into the overall Government Crime Strategy, as called for in the National Rural Crime Network’s recent report, Rural Crime: Serious, Organised and International, published on 10 March.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We welcome the National Rural Crime Network’s report and will consider its recommendations.
This Government is committed to tackling the threat from Serious and Organised Crime (SOC). In December 2023, we published the 2023 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy that commits to reducing SOC in the UK by disrupting and dismantling organised crime groups and networks operating in and against the UK.
Serious and organised crime is a major threat to the national security and prosperity of the UK. It costs lives, blights communities, hampers economic growth, and corrodes the global reputation of the UK and its institutions.
The Government welcomed the rural and wildlife crime strategy published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council in September 2022, this provides a comprehensive framework through which policing, and partner agencies can work together to tackle rural and wildlife crime, including where it is linked to other forms of serious and organised crime such as the drugs trade.
The National Rural Crime Unit works closely with Interpol to share information about stolen agricultural and construction machinery. As a result of the partnership it has established with INTERPOL, equipment has been recovered from criminal gangs across Europe.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the National Rural Crime Network’s call for the Home Office to undertake a comprehensive economic impact assessment of rural crime in its report Rural Crime: Serious, Organised and International, published on 10 March.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We welcome the National Rural Crime Network’s report and will consider its recommendations.
This Government is committed to tackling the threat from Serious and Organised Crime (SOC). In December 2023, we published the 2023 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy that commits to reducing SOC in the UK by disrupting and dismantling organised crime groups and networks operating in and against the UK.
Serious and organised crime is a major threat to the national security and prosperity of the UK. It costs lives, blights communities, hampers economic growth, and corrodes the global reputation of the UK and its institutions.
The Government welcomed the rural and wildlife crime strategy published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council in September 2022, this provides a comprehensive framework through which policing, and partner agencies can work together to tackle rural and wildlife crime, including where it is linked to other forms of serious and organised crime such as the drugs trade.
The National Rural Crime Unit works closely with Interpol to share information about stolen agricultural and construction machinery. As a result of the partnership it has established with INTERPOL, equipment has been recovered from criminal gangs across Europe.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK’s decision to leave the EU on the UK’s ability to track down or trace stolen plant and agricultural machinery.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We welcome the National Rural Crime Network’s report and will consider its recommendations.
This Government is committed to tackling the threat from Serious and Organised Crime (SOC). In December 2023, we published the 2023 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy that commits to reducing SOC in the UK by disrupting and dismantling organised crime groups and networks operating in and against the UK.
Serious and organised crime is a major threat to the national security and prosperity of the UK. It costs lives, blights communities, hampers economic growth, and corrodes the global reputation of the UK and its institutions.
The Government welcomed the rural and wildlife crime strategy published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council in September 2022, this provides a comprehensive framework through which policing, and partner agencies can work together to tackle rural and wildlife crime, including where it is linked to other forms of serious and organised crime such as the drugs trade.
The National Rural Crime Unit works closely with Interpol to share information about stolen agricultural and construction machinery. As a result of the partnership it has established with INTERPOL, equipment has been recovered from criminal gangs across Europe.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the links between wildlife offences and the drugs trade, as highlighted in the report Rural Crime: Serious, Organised and International published by the National Rural Crime Network, published on 10 March.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We welcome the National Rural Crime Network’s report and will consider its recommendations.
This Government is committed to tackling the threat from Serious and Organised Crime (SOC). In December 2023, we published the 2023 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy that commits to reducing SOC in the UK by disrupting and dismantling organised crime groups and networks operating in and against the UK.
Serious and organised crime is a major threat to the national security and prosperity of the UK. It costs lives, blights communities, hampers economic growth, and corrodes the global reputation of the UK and its institutions.
The Government welcomed the rural and wildlife crime strategy published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council in September 2022, this provides a comprehensive framework through which policing, and partner agencies can work together to tackle rural and wildlife crime, including where it is linked to other forms of serious and organised crime such as the drugs trade.
The National Rural Crime Unit works closely with Interpol to share information about stolen agricultural and construction machinery. As a result of the partnership it has established with INTERPOL, equipment has been recovered from criminal gangs across Europe.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to address the problem of criminal gangs intentionally crossing police force borders to exploit weaknesses in policing methods.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We know serious and organised crime (SOC) does not respect police force borders which is why all police forces in England and Wales collaborate and share resources, funding and specialist capabilities to deliver Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) to lead complex cross-border SOC investigations. There are nine ROCUs in England and Wales with equivalent capability in London.
Alongside approximately £70m in direct funding from the Home Office in 2023/24, Chief Constables, PCCs and Mayors with PCC functions have recently provided significant resource to the ROCU network by allocating 725 extra officers to ROCUs between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2023. Those officers are working in partnership now to tackle drugs supply and enablers, including firearms and criminal finances.
County lines is a major cross-cutting issue involving a range of criminality including drugs, violence, criminal gangs and child criminal exploitation, and involves the police, a wide range of Government departments, local government agencies and voluntary and community sector organisations. County lines gangs often export drugs across county borders from one police force area to another.
This Government is determined to crack down on county lines gangs which is why we are investing up to £145m over three years in our County Lines Programme to tackle the most violent and exploitative drug supply model yet seen. Through the County Lines Programme, we have established dedicated county lines taskforces in the four force areas exporting the majority of lines (MPS, Merseyside, West Midlands and Greater Manchester Police) as well as the British Transport Police to tackle the national rail network. We are also funding the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC), to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. The NCLCC has been vital in strengthening the law enforcement response, promoting best practice, and enabling police forces to work together to tackle this complex issue.
Since the County Lines Programme was launched in 2019, police activity has resulted in over 5,600 line closures, over 16,500 arrests and over 8,800 safeguarding referrals. This includes over 2,500 line closures since April 2022, surpassing the Drugs Strategy commitment of over 2,000 line closures by April 2025. Having met this target in half the time, we have now committed to close a further 1,000 lines by August 2024, bringing the total since the Drugs Strategy was launched in April 2022 to over 3,000.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the National Rural Crime Network's report Rural Crime: Serious, Organised and International, published on 10 March.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We welcome the National Rural Crime Network’s report and will consider its recommendations.
This Government is committed to tackling the threat from Serious and Organised Crime (SOC). In December 2023, we published the 2023 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy that commits to reducing SOC in the UK by disrupting and dismantling organised crime groups and networks operating in and against the UK.
Serious and organised crime is a major threat to the national security and prosperity of the UK. It costs lives, blights communities, hampers economic growth, and corrodes the global reputation of the UK and its institutions.
Additionally, the Government recognises that there can be particular challenges in responding to rural crime and welcomed the rural and wildlife crime strategy published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council in September 2022.
The Home Office provided £200,000 for the National Rural Crime Unit to tackle rural crime including the theft of farming or construction machinery, livestock theft, rural fly tipping, rural fuel theft and equine crime. We will continue to work closely with the NRCU to help ensure an effective police response to rural crime.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Stewart of Dirleton on 29 March 2023 (HL6584), when the government-funded feasibility study on the prevalence of female genital mutilation and forced marriage in England and Wales will be published.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Since April 2019, the Home Office has required police forces to provide quarterly data returns on the number of offences they have recorded as being related to ‘honour’-based abuse, which includes FGM. In October 2023, the Home Office published the fourth set of these annual statistics, which included 84 offences relating to FGM covering the year to March 2023. Data on prosecutions is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.
Between April 2022 and March 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recorded one offence which was charged by the police under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. This was discontinued at its first hearing due to an incorrect charge submitted by the police. Separately, in October 2023, a defendant was found guilty of aiding the female genital mutilation of a non-UK person contrary to section 3 of the Act. This defendant was originally charged in 2018.
In April 2023, the Home Office commissioned the University of Birmingham to conduct a feasibility study to determine whether it is possible to produce a robust prevalence estimate of FGM and forced marriage. This work is ongoing and decisions about next steps will be taken in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many female genital mutilation offences were recorded between April 2022 and March 2023; and of those, how many prosecutions have occurred.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Since April 2019, the Home Office has required police forces to provide quarterly data returns on the number of offences they have recorded as being related to ‘honour’-based abuse, which includes FGM. In October 2023, the Home Office published the fourth set of these annual statistics, which included 84 offences relating to FGM covering the year to March 2023. Data on prosecutions is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.
Between April 2022 and March 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recorded one offence which was charged by the police under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. This was discontinued at its first hearing due to an incorrect charge submitted by the police. Separately, in October 2023, a defendant was found guilty of aiding the female genital mutilation of a non-UK person contrary to section 3 of the Act. This defendant was originally charged in 2018.
In April 2023, the Home Office commissioned the University of Birmingham to conduct a feasibility study to determine whether it is possible to produce a robust prevalence estimate of FGM and forced marriage. This work is ongoing and decisions about next steps will be taken in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Offord of Garvel on 28 November (HL427), whether they have assessed how many (1) underage children, and (2) illegal workers, have been working as delivery riders; and if so, how many of each there were in (a) 2021, and (b) 2022.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold this information.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many reported instances there are of violence or self-harm linked to video gaming in children and young people.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold information on the number of reported instances of violence or self-harm linked to video gaming in children and young people.
However, the Government takes this issue extremely seriously and is introducing a new offence through the Online Safety Act to make communications which encourage or assist self-harm illegal. This will protect people of all ages from this harmful content.
Equivalent provisions are set out in the Criminal Justice Bill currently making its way through Parliament, which create the same prohibitions offline.