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 - Minister of State (Home Office)
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 - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
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.
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, for what reason the Government is undertaking 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.
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 human rights lawyers acting for asylum seekers are monitored by her Department in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) Wales.
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.
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 20 February by the Minister for Immigration, Official Report, column 33, how many human rights (a) solicitors, (b) advocates and (c) barristers acting for asylum seekers are being monitored by the Government.
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.
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 20 February by the Minister for Immigration, Official Report, column 33, in what way her Department is monitoring the activities of a small number of legal practitioners.
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.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Home Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policy of the High Court ruling on R v Secretary of State for the Home Department.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
It is not clear from the Hon. Member’s question which case he is referring to, however, the Home Office will always consider the implication of relevant High Court judgments as part of policy development.
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 contracts the Home Office currently has with Nick Timothy.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Nick Timothy is undertaking a short piece of work to advise on structures and systems which support the Home Secretary in the Home Office.
Nick Timothy started in the role on December 12 and the current appointment period is to the end of February. It is unpaid