Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made on establishing an independent agency to assess requests from authorised agencies for access to records of phone calls, emails, and text messages relating to investigations into serious crime.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
On 30 November 2017, the Government launched a public consultation on proposed changes to Part 4 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, which includes the creation of a newly appointed body to be known as the Office for Communications Data Authorisations (OCDA).
The consultation closes on 18 January 2018. Following the consultation, the Secretary of State will carefully consider any representations made in response, and what, if any, changes may be required to the draft Regulations and code of practice. The draft Regulations and code of practice will then be laid in Parliament for approval by both Houses before they can come into effect.
The Government is working to establish OCDA with the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, who the body will report directly to, and the task of setting it up is significant. It involves the procurement of premises (including appropriate security arrangements), recruitment, vetting and training of new staff, and the development of the necessary IT systems and processes which will allow OCDA staff to electronically consider applications from over 600 public authorities.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many vehicles were confiscated in England and Wales in 2016; for which offences; how many were (1) released, (2) sold, and (3) crushed; and how much money was raised for each police service through those confiscations and subsequent sales.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
This information is not centrally recorded. The recovery, storage and disposal of vehicles is an operational matter for the police.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether chief police officers can apply for additional funding to cover the opportunity costs of officers being present at an anti-fracking protest, rather than doing regular community policing duties, or whether such additional funding only covers costs such as unusual overtime and mutual aid.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Special Grant funding only covers additional costs. In general this may include staff overtime, mutual aid and rest day working costs. Vehicle or equipment hire costs may also be claimed.
Detailed guidance on Special Grant funding is on the Government website at:
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish a detailed breakdown of the request for an additional £3.1 million from Lancashire Police for policing the Cuadrilla site.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
It is not our policy to release details of a Special Grant funding application whilst it is under consideration.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner has the power to instruct the Chief Constable to suspend, or scale back, the policing operation at the Cuadrilla site until such time as additional funding is provided by the Home Office.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We would expect PCCs and Chief Constables to regularly discuss policing within the force area and funding, however the decision on whether to police a protest is an operational one for the Chief Constable. This is set out in statute in paragraphs 30-33 of the Policing Protocol Order 2011.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, of the court prosecutions for traffic offences in 2016, how many (1) were generated by camera enforcement or initiated by police officers, and (2) ended with (a) disposals by use of National Driver Offender Retrainer Schemes, and (b) Fixed Penalty Notices.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of motoring offences dealt via a fixed penalty notice (FPN) in the ‘Police powers and procedures, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins. Data up to 2015 can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales
Data on FPNs for motoring offences issued in 2016 will be published in the next edition of the ‘Police powers and procedures, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin. This bulletin is scheduled for release on Thursday 26th October.
Offences that come under ‘neglect of traffic directions’ and ‘speed limit offences’ may be detected by the police or by traffic enforcement cameras.
Data on these offences, up to 2015, can be found in the following table broken down by camera detected and non-camera detected:
When an individual receives a FPN for a motoring offence, there are a number of outcomes they could face: pay a fine, receive points on their driving licence, attend a driver retraining course or face court action which may lead to prosecution. Once an individual faces court action they lose the option of attending a driver retraining course.
The Home Office has previously only published FPNs which resulted in a fine or points on a drivers licence. In the next edition of the ‘Police powers and procedures, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin the Home Office has widened the scope of the data it publishes to include the additional outcomes (such as driver retraining courses).
Information on convictions for motoring offences is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many traffic police by police region there were in England and Wales in (1) 2015, and (2) 2016.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the primary function of police officers, as part of the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales (see attached table )These data include officers whose primary function is “Road Policing”. Officers with multiple responsibilities are recorded under their primary function.
Some forces are unable to make a clear distinction between certain functions and therefore record the majority of, or all, employees under one function. In particular, some forces have employees who work within units whose function is to provide both roads policing and armed policing. Reclassification of roles within a force can lead to fluctuations in the number of officers in a particular role between years.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why Gwent Police Officers are policing anti-fracking protests at Preston New Road in Lancashire; and who is paying the salaries of those officers while they are in England.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The role of the police in managing demonstrations is to preserve the peace, to uphold the law and to prevent the commission of offences. Police tactics and decisions on how to achieve these objectives, and the resources required, are matters for the independent operational judgement of chief officers.
If the required resources exceed a police force’s own capacity, mutual aid assistance may be requested from other forces. The decision to seek and assist with mutual aid deployments are operational decisions for the police and the cost of the officers provided are met by the requesting police force.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that the Chief Constable of Essex complies with requests from Jeremy Bamber's legal team, and with court orders made in 1994, 2001 and 2002, to provide non-disclosed evidence in relation to the murders at White House Farm in Essex in 1985.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Police forces are operationally independent of government and decisions around the management and handling of a police investigation fall under the direction and control of the Chief Officer of the force concerned.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have complied in full with the order issued by the Central Criminal Court in 1994, as a result of a Judicial Review initiated by lawyers acting for Jeremy Bamber, instructing the then Home Secretary to disclose all DNA evidence from Essex Police in relation to the White House Farm murders in Essex in 1985.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office complied with the order as set out in paragraph 163 of the judgement in the Court of Appeal case of R V JEREMY BAMBER Neutral Citation Number: [2002] EWCA Crim 2912 Case No: 20011745 S1.