Oral Answers to Questions

Brandon Lewis Excerpts

Monday 6th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Johnny Mercer (Plymouth, Moor View) (Con)]

5. What procedures have been put in place to prevent errors in the recording of licence conditions on the police national computer. [R]

[The Minister for Policing and the Fire Service (Brandon Lewis)]

The PNC central bureau is operated by the Metropolitan police, and it processes all licence notifications on behalf of police forces in England and Wales. A sample of transactions in the bureau are checked daily for accuracy by supervisors.

[Johnny Mercer]

I understand from Ministers that this problem was rectified last year, which I am happy to learn. However, is there any more the Department can do to work with families like the one here with me today whose son was murdered by an individual on licence? I pay tribute to Andrea Sharpe on her efforts to close this gap. Will the Department work with families to ensure that they get the support they need so that cases like that of Tanis Bhandari cannot happen again?

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Fortunately, very few of us in this House can ever understand or will ever have to go through what the family of Tanis Bhandari had to go through; that was a tragic incident that we all wish would never happen to anybody. My hon. Friend is right that the process around post-sentence supervision has changed following the implementation of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014, but I am always willing, as, I know, are colleagues at the Ministry of Justice—I think my hon. Friend has arranged for the family to meet the Secretary of State for Justice later today—to look at what more we can learn from the experiences of today and the past.

[Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)]

6. If she will make it her policy for non-UK EU citizens resident in the UK to retain full residency rights after the UK has left the EU.

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[Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)]

13. What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of her Department’s funding for the Metropolitan police.

[The Minister for Policing and the Fire Service (Brandon Lewis)]

I will not comment on the first part of the hon. Gentleman’s point, but I would say that we can be very clear that the Metropolitan police has the resources it needs to police London. It is the best-funded force in the country in terms of direct resource funding per head of population, and it also has the most officers per head of population.

[Wes Streeting]

Ilford North residents worried about bread and butter crime and policing on issues such as burglary feel unlucky because the average London taxpayer pays £61 a year to subsidise the national work of the Metropolitan police. Given that, will the Government accept the recommendation of Sir Richard Mottram’s panel and provide an additional £107 million a year to fund the vital national work of the Metropolitan police?

[Brandon Lewis]

Clearly, the Metropolitan police have a role to play in that national context that is different from other police forces. The review of the NICC—national and international capital city—contribution, which the Metropolitan police has outlined in conversations about the police funding formula review, will be done in line with that funding formula review.

[Judith Cummins (Bradford South) (Lab)]

Of equal importance to ensuring adequate funding for the Met police is ensuring proper funding for West Yorkshire police. There are real concerns about the use of firearms in my constituency, where firearms offences have risen by a third during the past four years. Will Ministers ensure that West Yorkshire police have the resources necessary to get these weapons off our streets?

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Lady just highlighted the cross-party calls from across this House to see that police funding formula review work done, ensuring that we are properly reflecting things. The current formula is immensely out of date, and it is well known and well accepted that that needs to be reviewed. I therefore look forward to her support in that review work.

[Lyn Brown (West Ham) (Lab)]

Just over a year ago, the Chancellor promised real-terms protection for police funding, but the Met faces real-terms cuts of £47 million, Manchester faces a £12 million one and West Yorkshire faces a £9 million one—England and Wales as a whole faces a massive £200 million cut. That has consequences, with violent crime deprioritised, domestic violence victims ignored and neighbourhood policing eroded. All of that has been evidenced by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary, yet we have heard nothing from the Minister except complacency. Who should the public believe: the Minister of broken promises or the independent HMIC?

[Brandon Lewis]

I appreciate the tone in which the hon. Lady has asked the question. If she actually looks at the HMIC report, she will see that it is clear that this is not about levels of funding; the report is very much about how the police use the funding they have. I gently point out to her that, if they are using the precept abilities they have, not only is every single police force in the country, bar one, protected, but indeed, this year overall we are seeing an increase in the resources for police forces. Even in London, the police have seen a £30 million increase in their reserves, which means there has been money that they have not used.

[Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)]

14. If she will make it her policy to (a) end indefinite detention for immigration purposes and (b) introduce a maximum time limit of 28 days for such detention.

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[Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

T3. Will my right hon. Friend join me in welcoming the £10 million of investment that has been spent refurbishing Southend police station, and does he agree that the extra investment and better technology should result in improved crime detection and crime prevention?

[The Minister for Policing and the Fire Service (Brandon Lewis)]

My hon. Friend gives a really good example of a very forward thinking police force in Essex. Credit must go to the police and crime commissioner and the chief constable for the work that they are doing to use modern techniques and good technology to drive forward and to be efficient and effective. That is a good example of why we are increasing the police transformation fund to some £175 million this year.

[Carolyn Harris (Swansea East) (Lab)]

Does the Home Secretary really believe that the 45 days of support for suspected victims of trafficking is adequate, given that the organisations working at the coalface of the problem, such as the Human Trafficking Foundation, the Salvation Army, the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group, the Snowdrop Project, City Hearts and ECPAT, all say that it is completely unrealistic to expect to deal with the immigration, psychological, economic and housing issues that these vulnerable individuals are experiencing in 45 days? All those organisations also agree that this lethal combination is exposing victims to the real possibility of being re-trafficked.

[Craig Williams (Cardiff North) (Con)]

T5. I welcome the Minister’s visit to Cardiff, particularly to discuss with South Wales police the security for the UEFA champions league final—the most watched sporting event in the world—which is taking place in Cardiff on 3 June. What is he doing to focus minds on security?

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; arguably that will be the most watched sporting event in the world this year. It is an opportunity for the United Kingdom, and indeed for Wales, to show clearly what we have to offer. I was delighted to accept his invitation to go and meet the team down in Cardiff. We will keep a close eye on them to ensure that they have all the structural organisation they need to give everyone a fantastic event.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

T2. In October, baby monitors were hijacked by organised crime for cyber-attacks. Last week, the secrets that children whisper to their teddy bears were to be found online. This Government have ensured that responsibility for cyber-security is literally all over the place. Does the Home Secretary realise that when there is a devastating attack by an internet-connected device—and there will be—she will be the one we blame?

[Will Quince (Colchester) (Con)]

T6. Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary recently rated Essex police as good, which represents a significant improvement. Although there is still work to be done, will the Minister join me in paying tribute to the hard-working officers for that amazing achievement?

[Brandon Lewis]

Yes. My hon. Friend’s question backs up the earlier comment from our hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Sir David Amess), because Essex police have done some phenomenally good work, as we can see in HMIC’s report. I congratulate everybody at Essex police on that. I will urge one note of caution, however, because there are still areas that need improvement, and I expect to see the chief constable and the police and crime commissioner focusing on those to deliver for the people of Essex in future. But it is good news, so well done to them.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

T4. On a previous attempt to recalculate the national police funding formula, Lancashire police was set to lose £25 million a year. That was revised down to £8 million in year when inaccuracies were identified. That is on top of the £76 million that it had already saved since 2010. What steps is the Policing Minister taking to ensure that the national police funding formula will not repeat the same mistakes and will accurately reflect the demands on police forces?

[Brandon Lewis]

I can assure the hon. Lady that there is a substantial piece of work going on, with academics, police chief constables and police and crime commissioners across the country working to feed in and ensure that the police funding formula review takes account of everything it needs to take account of. A lot of people in the sector are outlining to us how pleased they are with the process. We are determined to see that through. We will see where it goes for all forces in order to get a fair formula in future.

[Craig Tracey (North Warwickshire) (Con)]

T8. What steps are the Government taking to crack down on cyber-terrorism, given that business is increasingly being done online and in the light of the recent announcement from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of a new digital strategy to encourage even more businesses to have the skills and confidence they need to make the most of digital technology?

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

T7. As the price of scrap metal rises, so, sadly, does the number of scrap metal thefts. Will the Minister say when the Government intend to produce a response to their consultation, which ended in January?

[Brandon Lewis]

The Government will respond to that consultation in due course—to the House—once we have had a chance to go through all the replies.

[James Berry (Kingston and Surbiton) (Con)]

T9. Will the Secretary of State confirm that the Government remain committed to resettling 23,000 of the most vulnerable children and adults directly from Syria, the middle east and north Africa over this Parliament, in addition to asylum seekers and family reunion cases? Will she update the House on how many people have been resettled in the past year?

[Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab)]

Further to the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown) and others, the report of Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary that was published last week found that a third of police forces required improvement or were inadequate, that there was a national shortage of detectives, that neighbourhood policing is being eroded and that there is no coherent strategy for the threat posed to communities by organised criminals. Will the Home Office respond to that damning report and outline what impact the findings will have on the police funding formula review, which we expect to see in the next few weeks?

[Brandon Lewis]

The response is for police forces, and I look forward to all police forces responding with the outcomes for their areas. I will write to all those forces that were found to require improvement. Straight after the report came out last week, I met the chief constable of the only one that was found inadequate, and I was impressed with their response to want to deal with the issues. Ultimately, there has also been a big improvement on previous years, which is good news, but the police need to respond and do the work to deliver.

[Amanda Milling (Cannock Chase) (Con)]

I thank the Fire Minister for his intervention, which has seen Staffordshire fire authority cancel a £4 million life-skills centre. Does he agree that the fire authority was right to review the scheme as we need to ensure that taxpayers’ money is spent wisely, and that there are other ways to deliver all-important fire prevention work?

[Brandon Lewis]

I thank my hon. Friend for her very kind comment. Importantly, the credit goes to a really good fire authority that has looked at the programme and taken a proper view on using taxpayers’ money effectively. I congratulate the authority on and thank it for that work.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

My constituent, Robert Makutsa, who is a well-known figure on the Scottish music scene, has now been in detention for 38 days, which is taking a brutal toll on his mental and physical health. I wrote to the Minister for Immigration on 16 January, but have yet to receive a response. Will he now meet me to discuss Robert’s ongoing detention?