Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the backlog in asylum seeker claims.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are committed to restating order to the asylum system, clearing the backlog to end the use of hotels.
The Home Secretary has removed the retrospective application of the Illegal Migration Act. This allows asylum claims from individuals who have arrived in the UK since 7 March 2023, to be considered against the existing legislative regime under the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, rather than waiting in the queue eligible for support.
The Home Office’s programme of transformation and business improvement aims to speed up decision making to reduce the time people spend in the system and reduce the numbers who are awaiting an interview or decision and remain in hotels.
This will enable us to maximise our capacity and progress cases in a more efficient and cost-effective way.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the number of hoax calls to emergency services.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Making a hoax phone call to the police is a criminal offence. All calls to the Police are recorded and the number can be traced, even if withheld. Local forces regularly remind the public of the serious consequences of wasting police time.
Emergency services may also request a Communications Provider to place a temporary restriction on the account of the hoax/nuisance caller. However, contact management, including the management of hoax calls, is an operational matter for policing. Any decision is for the emergency authority to take.
Where Policing receives a high number of hoax calls from a single source, they will look into the causation and undertake a longer-term response. Where hoax calling is deliberate policing may use existing legislation to prosecute persistent offenders.
It is for Chief Constables and democratically elected Police and Crime Commissioners or Mayors to decide how to appropriately respond to all calls, deploy resources and handle communications with the public based on their experience and knowledge of the communities they serve.
In FY24/25, the Home Office is funding the Police-led Digital Public Contact programme to explore a range of new contact capabilities, including the use of AI, to support Police call handlers, alleviate demand on the telephony system and improve the experience of crime reporting for the public.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle (a) anti-social behaviour and (b) noise disturbances in Shipley constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission
We will put thousands of neighbourhood police and community support officers back into local communities, so that residents have somewhere to turn to when things go wrong.
We will crack down on those causing havoc on our high streets and in city centres by introducing tougher powers via a Crime and Policing Bill, including a new Respect Order to tackle repeat offending.
There is a statutory regime for dealing with a range of nuisances including noise. Local authority environmental health departments are the main enforcers of the noise nuisance regime. It is for individual local authorities to determine the detailed arrangements of the services they provide taking into account their assessment of local needs and circumstances.