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Written Question
Police
Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the requirements regarding (1) appointment procedures, and (2) financial remuneration, for Deputy Police Commissioners.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold information on the annual cost of Police and Crime Commissioners which includes pay, employer pension and national insurance contributions and expenses. However, the total basic pay cost of PCCs annually is approximately £3m. PCCs are under a duty to publish information relating to their salary, allowances, the composition of their office and the salaries of their senior staff on an annual basis.

The Home Office does not hold information on the annual cost of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioners. The appointment, pay and other arrangements for Deputy Police and Crime Commissioners is a matter for each Police and Crime Commissioner. As the locally elected representative for policing, they are ultimately responsible for balancing their budget and making decisions about the size and composition of their offices.

Police and Crime Commissioners are required to seek the views of their local Police and Crime Panel before appointing a Deputy, and other senior staff, as set out in Schedule 1 to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.


Written Question
Police
Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the annual cost of Police and Deputy Police Commissioners for each of the past five years.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold information on the annual cost of Police and Crime Commissioners which includes pay, employer pension and national insurance contributions and expenses. However, the total basic pay cost of PCCs annually is approximately £3m. PCCs are under a duty to publish information relating to their salary, allowances, the composition of their office and the salaries of their senior staff on an annual basis.

The Home Office does not hold information on the annual cost of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioners. The appointment, pay and other arrangements for Deputy Police and Crime Commissioners is a matter for each Police and Crime Commissioner. As the locally elected representative for policing, they are ultimately responsible for balancing their budget and making decisions about the size and composition of their offices.

Police and Crime Commissioners are required to seek the views of their local Police and Crime Panel before appointing a Deputy, and other senior staff, as set out in Schedule 1 to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.


Written Question
Visas: Ukraine
Wednesday 23rd March 2022

Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government by what date someone fleeing the war in Ukraine who is seeking a Seasonal Worker visa to come to the UK must have had their application submitted for (1) poultry work, (2) pork butchery work, and (3) driving Heavy Goods Vehicles.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

The Seasonal Worker route is not open to any nationality wishing to take employment as a poultry worker, driving heavy goods vehicles, or as a pork butcher. These occupations were included within this route as a temporary concession – unrelated to the current events in Ukraine – that closed to new applications on 15 November 2021, 1 December 2021, and 31 December 2021 respectively.

However, any Ukrainians in the UK under the Seasonal Worker route, are able to have their visa extended until 31 December 2022. More information on flexibility for Ukrainian nationals can be found on gov.uk.

The Seasonal Worker route remains open to all nationalities, including Ukrainian nationals, wishing to take up work in the horticulture sector.


Written Question
Asylum: Afghanistan
Wednesday 9th March 2022

Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many adults and children have arrived in the UK seeking asylum from Afghanistan since August 2021; and of these, (1) how many are still waiting to be housed, and (2) how many children are still waiting to be enrolled at a school.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

The UK Government undertook the biggest and fastest emergency evacuation in recent history, helping over 15,000 people to safety from Afghanistan. Due to the scale and pace of the evacuation we were not able to source appropriate accommodation in the normal way, so we have had to use hotels as a temporary measure. There are currently over 12,000 individuals from Afghanistan in bridging hotels. This cohort is made up of British and Afghan Nationals who may be eligible for Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS). Over 4000 Afghans have already moved, or are in the process of being moved, into their permanent accommodation and we are working at pace with our Local Authority partners to secure permanent accommodation for those still in temporary accommodation.

We are providing £12 million to help councils across the country to provide education services for children arriving from Afghanistan living in temporary accommodation.

Working with local councils and other networks, all of the school age children who arrived as part of Operation Pitting have been offered a school place. However, this remains a moving picture as some new bridging hotels have been opened in new areas, both as a result of hotel moves and to accommodate more recent Afghan arrivals via Pakistan.

The Department for Education (DfE) continues to monitor the position in these local authorities, all are progressing well with the process of placing children in schools and none report problems with doing so, however they are at different stages in the process depending on the date of new arrivals.


Written Question
Hillsborough Families' Experiences Review
Wednesday 16th February 2022

Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will respond to the Right Reverend James Jones's report on learning from those bereaved through the Hillsborough Disaster The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power, published on 1 November 2017.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

The points of learning made by Bishop James Jones in his report on the experiences of the Hillsborough families span a number of departments and organisations. The Home Office is coordinating the Government’s response to the report and is working closely with its partners in the relevant government departments and organisations to carefully consider the points of learning. It was important to await the conclusion of the criminal proceedings before progressing with certain elements of this work, to avoid any risk of prejudice to those proceedings. The last trial concluded in May 2021, and the Government is now working to fulfil its commitment to engage with the Hillsborough families, before publishing the Government’s overarching response to the Bishop’s report in due course.


Written Question
Arrests
Wednesday 15th December 2021

Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the longest time an individual has been under arrest on suspicion of an offence before being charged with that offence.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

The Home Office does not collect data on the length of time individuals are under arrest before being charged with an offence.

However, the Home Office collects and publishes Experimental Statistics on durations of pre-charge bail and released under investigation, albeit from a subset of forces. These data are published as part of the ‘Police Powers and Procedures’ statistical collection (available on gov.uk).

The published statistics include data on the duration individuals have been on pre-charge bail or released under investigation, as well as the outcome assigned to individuals on pre-charge bail and released under investigation.

The year ending March 2021 is the first year that the Home Office has collected incident-level data for pre-charge bail and released under investigation, with almost all of the data requirement being collected on a voluntary basis. As such, not all forces have provided data, and the statistics are published as Experimental Statistics, which means that the quality of the data are still undergoing development. We are working with forces to make improvements for future publications.


Written Question
Insulate Britain: Demonstrations
Monday 8th November 2021

Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Insulate Britain protesters have been arrested; and of those, how many (1) have been charged, and (2) have broken court injunctions.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

Insulate Britain began targeting the M25 and other major roads on 13 September. As of 25 October, there have been over 650 arrests made by several police forces in connection to the protests.

The charging of those arrested is an operational matter for the relevant forces and the Crown Prosecution Service. The number of court injunctions broken by protesters is a matter for National Highways and Transport for London who were granted the injunctions.


Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan
Thursday 4th November 2021

Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many local authorities have taken on Afghan refugee families; and how many of these families are still in (1) hotels, or (2) guest houses; and how many children in these families have not yet been found school places.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

We continue to work with local authorities to source appropriate accommodation as quickly as possible for Afghan families who were evacuated to the UK.

There are more than 11,000 individuals accommodated temporarily in bridging hotels across the UK, who were evacuated as part of Operation Pitting. Children who have recently arrived from Afghanistan are entitled to a full time education and one of our priorities is to ensure they receive it. The duty to provide sufficient education for all school-age children rests with local authorities and the government is working closely with local authorities in whose areas Afghan families are resident to ensure they can access education as soon as possible.

In addition, we are urgently making available additional funds to support local authorities to provide educational support and help Afghan children and young people settle into their local schools and communities.

The Minister of State for Prisons and Afghan Resettlement provided an update to the House of Commons in a Dear Colleague letter last week, and she will continue to update the House at regular intervals.


Written Question
Overseas Students: Fees and Charges
Wednesday 10th March 2021

Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that some universities and independent schools are allowing overseas students to pay their fees in cash.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

The Government is clear that criminals should not be allowed to profit through the use of cash payments. We are cracking down hard on dirty money via our world-leading legislation and strong law enforcement response.

Money Laundering Regulations require firms to combat money laundering, check the identity of their customers and the purpose of their transactions, including the source of funds. These rules apply to businesses which might be used by criminals to facilitate the transfer of illicit funds including banks, money service businesses, lawyers and accountants.

Anyone employed in the education sector who has suspicions around the source of a student’s funds should inform law enforcement through filing a Suspicious Activity Report – if they fail to do so they could risk being struck off by their professional bodies.


Written Question
Missing Persons: Children
Tuesday 28th July 2020

Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, what assessment they have made of reports that police in England and Wales deal with 23 missing children incidents per day.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

Annual missing persons statistics, including how many children are reported missing, are published by the National Crime Agency’s Missing Person’s Unit:

http://missingpersons.police.uk/en-gb/resources/downloads/missing-persons-statistical-bulletins

The most recent data published by the NCA covers the period 2016-17. The NCA will publish missing persons data for 2017-18 and 2018-19 on Monday 20 July.

According to the 2016/17 data there were 179,953 missing children incidents recorded by the police in England and Wales.

Although the majority of missing children incidents are resolved within 48 hours (87% in the 2016/17 data) and no harm is reported in the majority of incidents (96% in the 2016/17 data), the Government recognises that children who go missing, even for a short period of time, are at significantly increased risk of harm, including from criminal and sexual exploitation.

We are determined that missing children and their families should receive the best possible protection and support. This includes driving a multi-agency, risk-based response to missing children incidents, with co-ordination across the police, local authorities, health sector and voluntary sector partners.

The Government is also working with the national policing lead for Missing Persons and the NCA’s UK Missing Persons Unit through the Home Office National Law Enforcement Data Programme (NLEDP) to deliver a National Register for Missing Persons (NRMP). The NRMP will allow all forces in England and Wales to manually record missing and associated found incidents, and to access data about missing people from other force areas. This will significantly improve our understanding of the scale of missing persons incidents across the UK.

Through our extensive programme of work to address criminal exploitation, county lines and child sexual exploitation and abuse, we are also tackling some of the key underlying reasons why children and young people go missing.