Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of technology-facilitated abuse incidents reported to the police in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data on technology-facilitated abuse incidents recorded by police forces in England and Wales.
The rapid development of technology has provided additional spaces for technology facilitated abuse and violence against women and girls (VAWG) to be perpetrated and has equipped perpetrators with new ways to harass, intimidate, stalk and coerce women and girls. We will set out plans to address technology-facilitated VAWG, in our forthcoming Strategy.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the forthcoming Violence Against Women and Girls strategy and its delivery plan will include (a) funding and (b) measures to address technology-facilitated domestic abuse.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) in all of its forms, including abuse facilitated by technology, is a top priority for this government, with an unprecedented mission to halve it within a decade. The rapid development of technology has provided additional spaces for VAWG and equipped perpetrators with new ways to harass, intimidate, stalk and coerce women and girls. We will set out plans to address technology-facilitated VAWG in our forthcoming Strategy.
Following the Chancellor’s announcement on 11th June, we are working through the details of funding for tackling VAWG over the Spending Review period of 2026-2029. We will provide further details on funding when departmental budget allocations have been finalised.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have undergone specialist technology-facilitated domestic abuse training in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The College of Policing is the responsible body for setting standards, developing curriculum and monitoring training delivery within policing, including the technology-facilitated domestic abuse training within Operation Modify.
In our manifesto, we committed to strengthening training on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) for policing to ensure that all officers have the right skills to investigate all VAWG offences, including technology-facilitated abuse.
In response to this, the Home Office has invested £13.1 million this year to launch the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP). This funding includes an uplift of nearly £2 million to deliver a robust package of training improvements across public protection crime types, including technology-facilitated abuse.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to improve neighbourhood policing in Knowsley constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of our Safer Streets Mission we will restore neighbourhood policing, with 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles across England and Wales. Every part of the country needs to benefit from this pledge, and of course that includes Knowsley.
The Home Office is working closely with policing to implement this Commitment and will announce its plans for the delivery of neighbourhood officers shortly.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the level of knife crime in Knowsley constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Halving national levels of knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government’s mission to ensure the safety of our streets.
We will continue to support police forces, agencies and those who share our ambition to halve knife crime, to take actions that work most effectively in their local communities. As we do so, the Government will continue to draw on the best available evidence on both prevention and enforcement and will closely monitor trends in national and local levels of knife crime.
We have also created a new Young Futures programme which will include the setting up of Prevention Partnerships across England and Wales – to help areas intervene earlier to stop young people being drawn into crime. It is vital we have a system that can identify and support those young people who need it most.
Under the previous Government, Merseyside has received over £20m to develop its Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP) since 2019, with an additional £4.34m available this financial year. The Merseyside VRP works closely with a range of partners to deliver targeted preventative interventions. These include Hospital Navigators (youth workers based in A&E settings who engage young people at critical ‘teachable moments’ to steer them away from violence), whole family cognitive behavioural therapy programmes, social skills training, broader mentoring initiatives, and sports-based diversionary activities. This work includes targeted delivery in areas within Knowsley.
We recognise the valuable work and significant progress VRUs have made in understanding and preventing serious violence. The proposed Police Funding Settlement for 2025-26 includes £49.7m to ensure continuation of the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) programme.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of antisocial behaviour in Knowsley constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
The Government recently announced Respect Orders, which will be introduced in the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill. Respect Orders can be applied for by police and local councils and are issued by the courts. They will enable courts to place wide-ranging restrictions on the behaviour of the most persistent and disruptive ASB offenders.
Breach will be a criminal offence meaning officers can arrest and take action quickly to disrupt ongoing ASB. Breaches will be heard in the criminal courts who will have a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, up to two years’ imprisonment.
We will also put thousands of neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities so that residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle antisocial behaviour in Knowsley constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
The Government recently announced Respect Orders, which will be introduced in the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill. Respect Orders can be applied for by police and local councils and are issued by the courts. They will enable courts to place wide-ranging restrictions on the behaviour of the most persistent and disruptive ASB offenders.
Breach will be a criminal offence meaning officers can arrest and take action quickly to disrupt ongoing ASB. Breaches will be heard in the criminal courts who will have a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, up to two years’ imprisonment.
We will also put thousands of neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities so that residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she hold discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of providing multi-year funding to (a) The First Step in Knowsley and (b) other organisations that seek to protect the safety of women and girls.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We have set out to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
This will be achieved by drastically improving the police and wider criminal justice response, including a relentless pursuit of dangerous perpetrators and sustained support for victims.
The Ministry of Justice provides core funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need.
All decisions on funding after March 2025 will be subject to the next spending review.