Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Chair of the Independent Panel Inquiry into child sexual abuse will be given access to files held by the intelligence and security services in the course of that inquiry.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Inquiry will have the full co-operation of Government and will have access to all relevant information, including files held by the intelligence and security services.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the communications of human rights charities, other than Amnesty International, have been intercepted in the UK; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by John Hayes
It is the longstanding policy of successive British governments not to comment on intelligence matters. However, as the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) said in its judgment of 22 June 2015 that any interception that occurred was lawful, necessary and proportionate.
While the IPT has found in favour of two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), it has made clear that neither of the NGOs suffered material detriment, damage or prejudice as a result of the breaches.
Caution should be exercised against drawing conclusions from the IPT’s ruling about the target of any such interception that may have taken place. A finding in favour of an individual or organisation does not necessarily mean that they themselves were the target; it could equally mean that they were simply in communication with a target. However I can neither confirm nor deny specifics relating to this or any other case.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the communications of Amnesty International have been intercepted (a) with or (b) without her authorisation.
Answered by John Hayes
It is the longstanding policy of successive British governments not to comment on intelligence matters. However, as the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) said in its judgment of 22 June 2015 that any interception that occurred was lawful, necessary and proportionate.
While the IPT has found in favour of two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), it has made clear that neither of the NGOs suffered material detriment, damage or prejudice as a result of the breaches.
Caution should be exercised against drawing conclusions from the IPT’s ruling about the target of any such interception that may have taken place. A finding in favour of an individual or organisation does not necessarily mean that they themselves were the target; it could equally mean that they were simply in communication with a target. However I can neither confirm nor deny specifics relating to this or any other case.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) civil servants and (b) special advisers in her Department are entitled to the use of a (i) car with a dedicated driver, (ii) car from the Government car pool and (iii) taxi ordered through a departmental account.
Answered by Karen Bradley
There is no entitlement for civil servants or special advisers to the use of (i) a car with a dedicated driver, (ii) a car from the government car pool (iii) a taxi ordered through a departmental account. However where there is business justification, pool vehicles can be driven by any employee of the Home Office holding the appropriate driving licence and approved by their line manager or local vehicle manager.
Taxis may also be ordered for official business journeys in properly defined circumstances. This is subject to line manager approval in line with the Department’s travel and expenses policy.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many non-statutory organisations providing counselling without pre-determined time-limits to adults who were sexually abused as children were funded by her Department in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Government announced an extra £7m funding to help victims of sexual violence in December 2014. £2.15m was allocated to the 84 existing Female Rape Support Centres and two funds were established to allocate the remainder: a £2m fund to non-statutory organisations reporting an increase in demand as a direct result of the announcement of the Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry (Fund 1), and a £2.85m fund for non-statutory organisations providing support across England and Wales to victims of sexual abuse to help meet the increased demand on those services (Fund 2). Organisations that applied to Fund 2 were asked whether they supported adults who were sexually abused as children. £2.33m of the £2.85m has been allocated to organisations that showed they provide support to adults who were sexually abused as children; this includes over £1.6m to organisations offering counselling services. These two funds are being administered by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk, supported by the Home Office. Aside from the attendance of the Chief Constable for Norfolk at the Oversight Board, no police time has been spent on assessment or allocation. We do not centrally hold information on the number of non-statutory organisations providing counselling without pre-determined time limits to adults who were sexually abused as children.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much police time was spent assessing child abuse victims funding applications and dispersing these to the chosen non-statutory organisations in the last year.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Government announced an extra £7m funding to help victims of sexual violence in December 2014. £2.15m was allocated to the 84 existing Female Rape Support Centres and two funds were established to allocate the remainder: a £2m fund to non-statutory organisations reporting an increase in demand as a direct result of the announcement of the Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry (Fund 1), and a £2.85m fund for non-statutory organisations providing support across England and Wales to victims of sexual abuse to help meet the increased demand on those services (Fund 2). Organisations that applied to Fund 2 were asked whether they supported adults who were sexually abused as children. £2.33m of the £2.85m has been allocated to organisations that showed they provide support to adults who were sexually abused as children; this includes over £1.6m to organisations offering counselling services. These two funds are being administered by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk, supported by the Home Office. Aside from the attendance of the Chief Constable for Norfolk at the Oversight Board, no police time has been spent on assessment or allocation. We do not centrally hold information on the number of non-statutory organisations providing counselling without pre-determined time limits to adults who were sexually abused as children.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of the £7 million Child Abuse Support Victims Fund dispersed in May 2015 has been allocated to non-statutory organisations which specifically provide long-term counselling support to adults who were sexually abused as children.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Government announced an extra £7m funding to help victims of sexual violence in December 2014. £2.15m was allocated to the 84 existing Female Rape Support Centres and two funds were established to allocate the remainder: a £2m fund to non-statutory organisations reporting an increase in demand as a direct result of the announcement of the Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry (Fund 1), and a £2.85m fund for non-statutory organisations providing support across England and Wales to victims of sexual abuse to help meet the increased demand on those services (Fund 2). Organisations that applied to Fund 2 were asked whether they supported adults who were sexually abused as children. £2.33m of the £2.85m has been allocated to organisations that showed they provide support to adults who were sexually abused as children; this includes over £1.6m to organisations offering counselling services. These two funds are being administered by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk, supported by the Home Office. Aside from the attendance of the Chief Constable for Norfolk at the Oversight Board, no police time has been spent on assessment or allocation. We do not centrally hold information on the number of non-statutory organisations providing counselling without pre-determined time limits to adults who were sexually abused as children.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of money spent by her Department on victim support is spent on direct theraupeutic counselling to victims of abuse.
Answered by Norman Baker
The department with overall responsibility for victim support is the Ministry of Justice. The Home Office and other departments provide funding for specific services. This is part of the government’s commitment that all victims of abuse have access to the support they require.
The Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of funding up to 2015 for specialist local support services and national helplines. The Home Office contribution is £28 million over the spending review period, and of this £1.72 million is provided per year to part-fund 87 Independent Sexual Violence Advisors, and £150,000 on their training. A further £400,000 per year is spent on funding 13 Young Persons Advocates to provide direct support to young women who have been victims, or are at risk of sexual violence from gangs.
These roles provide support to victims of abuse, including signposting further specialist support including therapeutic counselling. The proportions allocated to different types of support, and to victims who are now adults and whose abuse occurred in their childhood, is a local decision. The Home Office does not collate figures on this.
This support is in addition to the funding allocated from the Ministry of Justice Rape Support Fund to rape support centres, Department of Health support to Sexual Assault Referral Centres and Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services, and Department for Education’s support for counselling via their Innovation Fund.