Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff vacancies were there for the Border Force in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost. The link to Home Office annual reports and accounts which hold detail on staff costs is enclosed below:
HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff worked for the Border Force in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Staffing figures for Border Force can be found at Home Office annual report and accounts:
HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, (b) police forces, (c) the National Crime Agency, (d) HMRC and (e) the Food Standards Agency on the traffic of illicit and counterfeit food goods across the channel.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Border Force work closely with the lead department DEFRA in relation to Products of Animals Origins and food smuggling data.
The DEFRA link below will provide further detail in relation to the questions asked:
www.gov.uk/guidance/import-or-move-food-and-drink-from-the-eu-and-northern-ireland-to-great-britain
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the levels of cross-channel food smuggling in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Border Force work closely with the lead department DEFRA in relation to Products of Animals Origins and food smuggling data.
The DEFRA link below will provide further detail in relation to the questions asked:
www.gov.uk/guidance/import-or-move-food-and-drink-from-the-eu-and-northern-ireland-to-great-britain
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the current average wait time for a decision to be made on a modern slavery case under the National Referral Mechanism.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics regarding the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). These include the average time taken to make a Conclusive Grounds Decision. The latest published NRM statistics can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1154119/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-statistics-uk-quarter-1-2023-january-to-march-tables.ods
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the average time taken to investigate cases at Action Fraud.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
Action Fraud is the national reporting service for fraud but is not responsible for investigations. Reports submitted to Action Fraud are considered by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) and evaluated to assess the information available which could assist an investigation.
The NFIB currently aims to review every report for vulnerability within 72 hours of it being received on the NFIB technology platform. All allegations where viable lines of enquiry are identified should be disseminated to the appropriate force within 7– 28 days of reporting, depending on the level of information and evidence available.
We are working with City of London Police to refresh and upgrade the current Action Fraud service. Improvements include using automation within NFIB to increase its effectiveness.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Office, what proportion of her Department's budget was spent on food for the police force in each of the last five years; and what proportion of food supplied to the police force was produced by UK farmers in each of those years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office does not hold information relating to the proportion of budgets spent on food for police forces and what proportion of the food supplied was produced by UK farmers.
Decisions on how to use funding and resources are an operational matter for Chief Constables. Police and Crime Commissioners are best placed to make resourcing decisions within their communities based on their local knowledge and experience,
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the average financial loss per fraud victim in 2022.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
Fraud covers a diverse range of modus operandi and as a result losses incurred by victims can vary and there is no typical victim. Caution should therefore be applied in using data to generate an average loss figure.
The Office for National Statistics publish annually the financial losses for fraud broken down into bands, Fraud victims incurred a financial loss in around two in three (64%) incidents in the year ending March 2022 Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW) (Nature of crime: fraud and computer misuse table 8a). Financial loss represents incidents where an amount of money or cash had been stolen or taken as a direct result of fraud, regardless of any later reimbursement, or any additional charges or costs incurred (such as bank charges, repair costs or replacement costs).
In incidents for which victims suffered a financial loss:
Financial loss suffered by victims of fraud, Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW) | |||
Financial loss | Total proportion of frauds | Percentage of those frauds involving financial loss | Cumulative total |
No financial loss | 35.5 | [z] | [z] |
Less than £20 | 7.0 | 10.9 | 10.9 |
£20 - £49 | 15.9 | 24.7 | 35.6 |
£50 - £99 | 13.4 | 20.8 | 56.4 |
£100 - £249 | 13.6 | 21.1 | 77.5 |
£250 - £499 | 6.6 | 10.2 | 87.7 |
£500 - £999 | 2.3 | 3.6 | 91.2 |
£1,000 - £2,499 | 3.2 | 4.9 | 96.1 |
£2,500 - £4,999 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 98.4 |
£5,000 - £9,999 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 99.1 |
£10,000 or more [note 5] | 0.6 | 0.9 | 100.0 |
Median loss [note 6] [note 7] | [z] | £79 | [z] |
Unweighted base - number of incidents | 2,708 | 1,653 | [z] |
Source: Office for National Statistics - Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW)
Note 1: This represents incidents where an amount of money or cash had been stolen or taken as a direct result of fraud, regardless of any later reimbursement, or any additional charges or costs incurred (such as bank charges, repair costs or replacement costs).
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time is for a refugee to receive a Biometric Residence Permit after receiving refugee status.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The waiting times for biometric residence permits (BRP) are dictated by the BRP production and delivery processes. Regarding the individual production time of each BRP from the time a decision is made, the information is not available publicly and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
We aim to deliver a BRP within 7 working days of the immigration decision. BRPs are produced at the secure delivery facility (Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA)) within 48 hours of the production request being made and are collected by our secure delivery partner the same day. Our secure delivery partner aims to attempt to deliver the BRPs within 48 hours of receipt of the BRPs. This equates to a minimum of 5 working days from date of production request being made to delivery of the BRP. We have added an additional 2 working days to the timeline advised to applicants to allow us to resolve any production issues.
Since 1st April 2022, DVLA have produced all BRPs within 48 hours of the production request, with 97.7% being produced within 24 hours. Since 1st April 2022, our delivery partner attempted to deliver over 99% of BRPs within 48 hours, and delivered over 75% of BRPs successfully on first delivery attempt.
The Home Office is developing a border and immigration system which will be digital by default. The ambition is to phase out physical documents such as biometric residence permits before the end of 2024 as we move towards a system of online evidence of immigration status (eVisas).
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Oral contribution of the Minister for Immigration of 20 February 2023, Official Report, column 33, when she plans to publish findings from the monitoring of human rights lawyers acting for asylum seekers.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
People who make dangerous journeys by putting their lives at risk to reach the UK often seek immigration advice. When considering representations, the Home Office ensures that firms raising such immigration matters have the correct regulatory credentials. If evidence exists that obligations have been breached, we may refer the firm to regulators.