Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with police forces on the adequacy of the advice they give to Hong Kong democracy activists on (a) speaking at and (b) attending rallies against the behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The management of demonstrations, including any advice given to individuals attending or speaking at rallies, is an operational matter for the police.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help protect (a) farming and (b) food production sites from illegal drone flying by vegan activists.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office, working closely with policing, has built a national counter-drone capability to equip police with the capabilities they need to detect and mitigate the illegal or malicious use of drones. These capabilities comprise a range of specialist equipment, vehicles, and personnel to ensure a flexible and effective response across UK policing to any potential drone-related incident.
The public should report any suspicious drone activity by calling 101. They should explain the situation to the call handler, identifying the time and location of the drone. In an emergency, the public should call 999.
Flying a drone safely and within regulations by an appropriately registered pilot is legal in the UK. The Drone and Model Aircraft Code, which gives guidance on the circumstances in which drone flying is and is not illegal, is available from the Civil Aviation Authority’s website.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what meetings her Ministers have held with (a) religious or faith-based bodies and (b) their representatives on the proposed duty to report child abuse legislation in the Crime and Policing Bill.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Ministers have met with a number of interested Parliamentarians to discuss clauses 45-54 of the Crime and Policing Bill, including a member of the Lords Spiritual. We will continue to engage with faith groups that and other organisations to help them manage the implementation of the new duty.
The duty will apply to individuals undertaking relevant activity with children, including in religious and faith-based settings. There are no exceptions made within the law on the basis of how and where disclosures are received.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the proposed duty to report child abuse in the Crime and Policing Bill would apply to disclosures made in religious confessionals.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Ministers have met with a number of interested Parliamentarians to discuss clauses 45-54 of the Crime and Policing Bill, including a member of the Lords Spiritual. We will continue to engage with faith groups that and other organisations to help them manage the implementation of the new duty.
The duty will apply to individuals undertaking relevant activity with children, including in religious and faith-based settings. There are no exceptions made within the law on the basis of how and where disclosures are received.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the proposed duty to report child abuse in the Crime and Policing Bill would apply to all (a) religious and (b) faith-based bodies.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Ministers have met with a number of interested Parliamentarians to discuss clauses 45-54 of the Crime and Policing Bill, including a member of the Lords Spiritual. We will continue to engage with faith groups that and other organisations to help them manage the implementation of the new duty.
The duty will apply to individuals undertaking relevant activity with children, including in religious and faith-based settings. There are no exceptions made within the law on the basis of how and where disclosures are received.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with external organisations while developing the local grooming gang inquiries.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our focus is to deliver meaningful change for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation, including by grooming gangs. That means protecting more children, getting justice for victims and pursuing and punishing the perpetrators of these abominable crimes.
On 8 April I made a statement to Parliament setting out a detailed update on Government action to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as a progress update on the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. This included an update on our work to develop a new best practice framework, backed by additional funding, to support local authorities that want to undertake local inquiries or other related activities, including the independent local inquiry commissioned by Oldham Council, for which we have already announced our support.
To develop this framework, we have engaged with a range of experts, victims and survivors, drawing on the lessons from local independent inquiries like Telford, Rotherham and Greater Manchester. We are now in the process of testing the framework with stakeholders, including local areas, to ensure it will effectively facilitate work improve local responses to grooming gangs offending. We will publish the details of the framework and the national fund next month.
The Home Secretary also wrote to all local authorities in the country last month to update them on the actions we have taken in this area, and ask them to review their own local progress in tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation, and investigating historic cases of those crimes.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what areas will local grooming gang inquiries be conducted in.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our focus is to deliver meaningful change for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation, including by grooming gangs. That means protecting more children, getting justice for victims and pursuing and punishing the perpetrators of these abominable crimes.
On 8 April I made a statement to Parliament setting out a detailed update on Government action to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as a progress update on the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. This included an update on our work to develop a new best practice framework, backed by additional funding, to support local authorities that want to undertake local inquiries or other related activities, including the independent local inquiry commissioned by Oldham Council, for which we have already announced our support.
To develop this framework, we have engaged with a range of experts, victims and survivors, drawing on the lessons from local independent inquiries like Telford, Rotherham and Greater Manchester. We are now in the process of testing the framework with stakeholders, including local areas, to ensure it will effectively facilitate work improve local responses to grooming gangs offending. We will publish the details of the framework and the national fund next month.
The Home Secretary also wrote to all local authorities in the country last month to update them on the actions we have taken in this area, and ask them to review their own local progress in tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation, and investigating historic cases of those crimes.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made on the establishing the local grooming gang inquiries.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our focus is to deliver meaningful change for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation, including by grooming gangs. That means protecting more children, getting justice for victims and pursuing and punishing the perpetrators of these abominable crimes.
On 8 April I made a statement to Parliament setting out a detailed update on Government action to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as a progress update on the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. This included an update on our work to develop a new best practice framework, backed by additional funding, to support local authorities that want to undertake local inquiries or other related activities, including the independent local inquiry commissioned by Oldham Council, for which we have already announced our support.
To develop this framework, we have engaged with a range of experts, victims and survivors, drawing on the lessons from local independent inquiries like Telford, Rotherham and Greater Manchester. We are now in the process of testing the framework with stakeholders, including local areas, to ensure it will effectively facilitate work improve local responses to grooming gangs offending. We will publish the details of the framework and the national fund next month.
The Home Secretary also wrote to all local authorities in the country last month to update them on the actions we have taken in this area, and ask them to review their own local progress in tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation, and investigating historic cases of those crimes.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she expects the national framework for local grooming gang inquiries to be published.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our focus is to deliver meaningful change for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation, including by grooming gangs. That means protecting more children, getting justice for victims and pursuing and punishing the perpetrators of these abominable crimes.
On 8 April I made a statement to Parliament setting out a detailed update on Government action to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as a progress update on the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. This included an update on our work to develop a new best practice framework, backed by additional funding, to support local authorities that want to undertake local inquiries or other related activities, including the independent local inquiry commissioned by Oldham Council, for which we have already announced our support.
To develop this framework, we have engaged with a range of experts, victims and survivors, drawing on the lessons from local independent inquiries like Telford, Rotherham and Greater Manchester. We are now in the process of testing the framework with stakeholders, including local areas, to ensure it will effectively facilitate work improve local responses to grooming gangs offending. We will publish the details of the framework and the national fund next month.
The Home Secretary also wrote to all local authorities in the country last month to update them on the actions we have taken in this area, and ask them to review their own local progress in tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation, and investigating historic cases of those crimes.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the introduction of Electronic Travel Authorisation on British National (Overseas) Passport holders without UK visas.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Electronic travel authorisations (ETAs) have been introduced to enhance our ability to screen travellers upstream and stop those who pose a threat from travelling to the UK.
ETAs were expanded to BN(O) passport holders on 27 November 2024 and are currently a requirement for this population when travelling to the UK. But this aspect of the policy remains under review, and we will update the House on any changes in due course.