Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of police forces using drones in response to (a) motorbike, (b) off-road bike and (c) moped related crimes.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not collect data on the number of police forces operating drones. Deployment of drones is an operational decision for forces.
In a study published on 30 November HMICFRS reported that 28 Police Forces use drones.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, many police forces in England and Wales use drones in response to (a) motorbike, (b) off-road bike and (c) moped related crimes.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not collect data on the number of police forces operating drones. Deployment of drones is an operational decision for forces.
In a study published on 30 November HMICFRS reported that 28 Police Forces use drones.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, why statistics on motorcycle, off-road bike and moped-related crimes and anti-social behaviour are not centrally kept.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office is currently reviewing the law and guidance surrounding police pursuits and response driving, including whether current arrangements need to be changed to ensure that officers who engage in pursuit have the right legal protections. We will finish the review early next year.
The statutory basis for data collection, the Annual Data Requirement (ADR) process, is set by the Police Act 1996. This process works closely with the policy and operational colleagues, other government departments, National Policing Leads and other key police stakeholders to ensure that routine statistical data required on police forces remains proportionate and justified and eliminates unnecessary burdens. This ensures a proper balance between the accountability and efficiency of police operations.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of police pursuit strategies across England and Wales in reducing moped, motorbike and off-road bike-related crimes and anti-social behaviour.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office is currently reviewing the law and guidance surrounding police pursuits and response driving, including whether current arrangements need to be changed to ensure that officers who engage in pursuit have the right legal protections. We will finish the review early next year.
The statutory basis for data collection, the Annual Data Requirement (ADR) process, is set by the Police Act 1996. This process works closely with the policy and operational colleagues, other government departments, National Policing Leads and other key police stakeholders to ensure that routine statistical data required on police forces remains proportionate and justified and eliminates unnecessary burdens. This ensures a proper balance between the accountability and efficiency of police operations.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many motorists have been penalised for using a handheld mobile telephone while driving since 1 March 2017.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not hold information for the time period requested.
The Home Office publishes data on the number of fixed penalty notice (FPNs) issued for ‘use of a handheld mobile phone while driving’ in the ‘Police Powers and Procedures, England and Wales’ statistical publication.
The latest available data covers the calendar year 2015, and can be found here:
Data for the calendar year 2016 will be published in autumn 2017.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from (a) EU and EEA countries and (b) non-EEA countries have submitted applications for permanent UK residency since the UK voted to leave the EU.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Statistics of decisions and grants of Documents Certifying Permanent Residence issued to EEA nationals and Permanent Residence cards issued to non EEA nationals are published quarterly in table ee_02_q of Immigration Statistics.
The most recent edition is available at:
The next set of Immigration Statistics covering the period July to September 2016 will be published on the 1 December.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her oral statement on Calais of 24 October 2016, Official Report, columns 64-5, what discussions she has had with her (a) Belgian, (b) Dutch, (c) German and (d) Danish counterparts on ensuring that the closure of the Calais camp does not result in the displacement of migrants and refugees to ports in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The UK Government regularly shares intelligence and cooperates with our international partners to monitor and counter displacement from Calais.
The UK is working extensively with international partners to tackle the people smuggling gangs who may facilitate displacement to other ports. In November 2015 the then Immigration Minister signed a joint declaration with Dutch and Belgian ministers to strengthen our joint response to the threat from organised immigration crime at northern European ports. More widely, the UK has established an Organised Immigration Taskforce that is exploiting opportunities in Europe and Africa to disrupt the crime groups involved.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her Department plans to allocate £2.4 million for the security measures at vulnerable faith institutions in Action Against Hate: the UK Government's plan for tackling hate crime, published in July 2016; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Places of worship that have been subject to, or are vulnerable to, hate crime attacks can bid for protective security measures such as CCTV cameras, perimeter fencing, access control equipment, locks and alarms. The criteria for the scheme and guidance on how to apply are published on Gov.UK.
285 bids were received for this years scheme which closed on 4 October. Applications which meet the scheme criteria are assessed by an independent advisory panel which recommends those which should be funded. The panel will consider this years applications on 25 October 2016.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2016 to Question 37587, what progress the Government has made on consulting local authorities to identified a specified number of children refugees to be resettled in the UK in the next year under subsection (1) of 67 of the Immigration Act of 2016.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Local authorities are already caring for more than 4,000 unaccompanied asylum seeking children. The Government has consulted widely and extensively with local authorities across the UK in order to assess their capacity to care for additional unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children.
The Home Office has also significantly increased the funding available to local authorities that are supporting unaccompanied children and offered additional funding to bolster regional structures for the National Transfer Scheme, which is the mechanism for ensuring there is a more even distribution of unaccompanied children across the UK.
Between 12 May and 1 October 2016 over 50 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act were accepted for transfer, of which over 35 have been transferred. We continue to work with the French, Greek and Italian authorities to establish the number of children who may be eligible and have seconded UK experts to France, Greece and Italy to support the commitment to transfer eligible children to the UK, where it is in their best interests.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2016 to Question 37587, how many child refugees are planned to be resettled in the UK in the next year in accordance with subsection (1) of 67 of the Immigration Act of 2016.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Local authorities are already caring for more than 4,000 unaccompanied asylum seeking children. The Government has consulted widely and extensively with local authorities across the UK in order to assess their capacity to care for additional unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children.
The Home Office has also significantly increased the funding available to local authorities that are supporting unaccompanied children and offered additional funding to bolster regional structures for the National Transfer Scheme, which is the mechanism for ensuring there is a more even distribution of unaccompanied children across the UK.
Between 12 May and 1 October 2016 over 50 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act were accepted for transfer, of which over 35 have been transferred. We continue to work with the French, Greek and Italian authorities to establish the number of children who may be eligible and have seconded UK experts to France, Greece and Italy to support the commitment to transfer eligible children to the UK, where it is in their best interests.