Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to stop dangerous and illegal Channel crossings and to ensure criminal gangs can no longer assist illegal immigration into the UK, and when they expect such crossings to end.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government continues to work closely with domestic and international partners to reduce the incidence of these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary crossings, and to prosecute those who profit from them.
Crossing attempts have decreased by a third this year, and large numbers of suspected facilitators have been arrested. Violence is now being increasingly employed by migrants and facilitators when crossing attempts are disrupted by French law enforcement, suggesting that these efforts are having an impact on criminals.
The Illegal Migration Act, enacted in July this year, marks a vital step forward in ending these crossings by removing the incentives for using these dangerous, illegal, and unnecessary routes.
A timescale for the ending of these crossings cannot currently be given, but in 2023 for the first time we have seen a reduction in arrivals.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what new counter-terrorist measures are being proposed to deal with the threat from IS and al-Qaeda against the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On Tuesday 18 July, the Home Office published an updated version of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST.
This strategy identifies the persistent and evolving threat from Islamist terrorist groups overseas, and sets out our response to it working closely with international allies and partners. The document is available at gov.uk
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to provide protection for Christians who are running for public office.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those participating in the democratic process, including those who decide to stand for election. This commitment extends to individuals of all faiths (or none). Any particular added protection for individuals or groups would be determined on a threat-led basis. The physical security of those taking part in elections is organised at the local level.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what further steps they will take to stop the criminal drug trade within the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities. This Government is determined to tackle this threat and that is why we published a ten-year Strategy to combat illicit drugs. This Strategy sets out a whole system approach of how the Government is doing more than ever to cut off the supply of drugs by criminal gangs and give people with a drug addiction a route to a productive and drug-free life reducing the recreational use of drugs
Underpinned by significant investment, we will reduce drug-related crimes, deaths, harms and overall drug use. This includes £300m of dedicated investment from the Home Office over the next three years to drive work on tackling drug supply
The strategy is on the gov.uk page.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent the elderly from being attacked in their own homes.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Making our communities safer and reducing crime is a key priority for the Government, which includes protecting elderly people from crime.. That is why we are delivering on the people’s priorities by recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers to give the police the resources they need, of which 11,053 have already been recruited. We have also increased funding for policing this year by £636m compared to 20/21.
In July, we published the Beating Crime Plan, which sets out our strategy for protecting the law-abiding majority, swiftly bringing criminals to justice, and managing offenders with rigour and discipline. It also commits all of Government to do everything within its power to drive crime down. Moreover, the first two rounds of the Safer Streets Fund were designed to prevent neighbourhood crimes such as burglary, robbery and theft. The fund supports communities in England and Wales that are disproportionately affected by these crimes to implement well-evidenced crime prevention initiatives, such as street lighting and home security.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what further steps they plan to take to de-radicalise terrorist extremists.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Desistance and Disengagement Programme (DDP) is part of Prevent. DDP focuses on rehabilitating individuals who have been involved in terrorism or terrorism-related activity and reducing the risk they pose to the UK. The programme offers a suite of tailored interventions drawing on the skill sets of multiple intervention providers including practical mentors and theological & ideological specialists as well as provides support through psychological intervention where this need is identified.
It focusses on those who have served prison sentences for terrorist or terrorist related offences and are due to be released on probation licence; those on Terrorism Prevention Investigation Measures (TPIMs): and those who have returned from conflict zones in Syria or Iraq and are subject to Temporary Exclusion Orders (TEOs).
The Home Office seeks to drive improvements to our programmes on a continuous basis and is currently undertaking a review of the programme by the way of an independent evaluation.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to counter ransomware attacks against businesses (1) in the UK, and (2) in other Western countries.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government’s priority, working alongside law enforcement and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), is to do all we can to mitigate any harm to the UK from ransomware.
The Home Office provides funding for cyber teams in Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) across England and Wales, to bolster the regional response to crime, provide protect advice to businesses and individuals, and to divert people vulnerable to cyber criminality.
The NCSC as the UK’s technical authority for cyber threats, continually reviews its advice and guidance to reflect new trends and how individuals and organisations can protect themselves, as well as providing swift support to organisations which fall victim to ransomware attack.
The National Crime Agency’s (NCA) National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) provides the focus for our national response to combating serious cyber criminals. It is using its operational resources to deliver arrests and disruption, using the NCA’s enhanced intelligence picture to target criminals where they are most vulnerable.
The NCSC and NCA continue to monitor and respond to the cyber threat, including ransomware.
The Government is working collaboratively with our international partners specifically the Five Eyes to address the ransomware threat.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what further steps they intend to take to protect retail workers from violence and abuse.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government conducted a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff to understand the extent of the issue and how we can work with retailers and police to improve the response to these crimes. The Government’s formal response was published 7 July 2020 and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/violence-and-abuse-toward-shop-staff-call-for-evidence
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent significant delays for returning travellers arriving at airports in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We are in a global health pandemic, and people should not be travelling unless absolutely necessary.
To protect the public and our vaccine rollout from new variants, Border Force checks every passenger has complied with current health measures when arriving at the border.
We are not going to abandon or compromise these vital public health measures and put the public at risk, and as long as these checks are necessary passengers should expect longer queues when arriving into the UK.
Queues and wait times will be longer if passengers have not completed the necessary requirements to enter the UK, and airlines are responsible for making sure that their passengers have completed all the necessary requirements.
We are, however, working hard to avoid extensive wait times, and every airport, has a responsibility to comply with social distancing and Covid measures on site
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to enact new laws designed to protect children who are at risk of sex abuse online.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Nothing is more important than the safety of our children. The UK Government is committed to stamping out all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse and continuing to be a global leader in tackling child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Last year we announced an additional £30 million to safeguard children from child sexual exploitation and abuse, both at home and online. This includes £9.86 million to the National Crime Agency (NCA) to improve its ability to tackle perpetrators seeking to offend against children via the Dark Web and £3.36 million to further improve our understanding and tackle all aspects of the threat.
Recognising the unprecedented challenge posed by the impact of COVID-19 and restrictions to prevent its spread, the Prime Minister hosted a cross-Government Hidden Harms Virtual Summit, to bring together key decisions makers and agree actions to combat hidden crimes, including child sexual abuse. We have also worked across government, with law enforcement and the third sector to provide information and advice about child sexual exploitation and abuse to schools, parents, carers and children and to ensure that victims and survivors continue to have access to the greatest possible support.
For example through the NCA’s #OnlineSafetyAtHome campaign and their ThinkUKnow resources, as well as published guidance on GOV.UK. We have also galvanised industry and international partners to raise awareness of online safety in response to COVID-19 and formally launched the Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
In the Queen’s Speech in December 2019, the Government committed to develop legislation to improve internet safety for all. This will build on the proposals in the Online Harms White Paper, published in April 2019 which set out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online.
We intend to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. The duty of care will require companies to put in place appropriate systems to deal with harmful content on their services and keep users safe. Companies will be required to take particularly robust action on tackling online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
On 12 February the Government published an initial response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation. We are working on a full Government response, which will be published shortly. This will be released alongside an interim code of practice to tackle online child sexual exploitation and abuse. This code will set out steps that companies can take to tackle online child sexual exploitation and abuse on a voluntary basis, ahead of any regulatory system introduced following the proposals in the Online Harms White Paper.