Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the headcount of the Security Industry Agency in each financial year between 2024-25 and 2028-29.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Security Industry Authority budgeted headcount for 2024/15 is 416. The Home Office is working with the SIA to establish the regulator for Martyn’s Law. As part of that work the Home Office is considering resource requirements to determine what this means for SIA’s headcount in future years
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the police allocation formula on (a) policing, (b) crime and (c) council tax in Hampshire.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government will consider police funding, including the allocation of funding to forces including Hampshire Police, in the round as part of phase 2 of the Spending Review.
Each year the Home Office produces a Police Grant Report which is published and voted on by Parliament and contains grant funding allocations for the following year to be paid out under the Police Act 1996.
The funding formula used for distributing Home Office Police Main Grant divides funds between different activities that (a) the police undertake and (b) in tackling crime. (c) Setting the police council tax precept is a matter for Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner who will take into account the views of the local community and the Police and Crime Panel.
A copy of the most recent Grant Report for 2024-25 has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and can be found online:
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2024 to Question 10427 on Animal Experiments: Licensing, how many applications received by the regulator were returned to the applicant for reconsideration between 1 January 2023 and 30 September 2024; and how many applicants withdrew an application in response to feedback from the regulator in that period.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office Regulator for animals in science provides comprehensive guidance to project licence applicants and has a thorough and extensive application process; see Guidance at:
Applicants may not apply for a licence unless they are doing so under an Establishment licence with all the associated requirements of the legislation, have demonstrable funding and can demonstrate appropriate availability of resources as well as having been through a rigorous process of local checks and balances. First time applications to the Regulator are therefore of general high conformity with legal requirements.
The Regulator reports that project licence applications for 2024, to date, had a mean number of 2.4 iterations before granting. The Regulator does not collect data on the number of applications withdrawn, but reports that such occurrences are rare.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill: Scope (Premises), updated on 1 November 2024, if she will make an estimate of the number of those premises with (a) 200 to 300, (b) 301 to 400, (c) 401 to 500, (d) 501 to 600, (e) 601 to 700 and (f) 701 to 800 individuals present at any one time.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
Estimates for the capacity of venues are based on a floorspace factor calculation (where no known capacity is available), drawing from ordnance survey data. The breakdown is:
Number of individuals expected at venue | Estimated number of venues in grouping |
200-300 | 62336 |
301-400 | 31787 |
401-500 | 23597 |
501-600 | 13227 |
601-700 | 9031 |
701-800 | 7539 |
As a result of pre-legislative scrutiny, Government made changes to the Bill removing the smallest premises from scope and reducing the number of venues in the standard tier from approximately 278,900 to an estimated 154,600.
In addition, responsible persons will now be able to assess the number of people that may reasonably be expected to be present. This is considered a fairer basis to reflect actual usage of venues.
When considering the appropriate threshold, Government’s concern is to ensure venues where a sizable amount of people gather are in scope, ensuring those responsible are required to take proportionate and reasonable action to mitigate the impacts of a terrorist attack. We are confident that, because of the changes detailed, the Bill strikes an appropriate balance between protecting the public and preventing undue burden on organisations in scope.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for project licences to conduct experiments on animals under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were refused permission between 1 January 2023 and 30 September 2024.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
From 1 January 2023 to 30 September 2024, no applications for a project licence under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 have been refused.
The Government publishes extensive guidance for the regulated sector on applying for project licences. Applications are internally reviewed by an establishment’s Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body before being submitted to the regulator for assessment.
Applications received by the regulator are frequently returned to the applicant for reconsideration. Applicants may amend or withdraw an application in response to feedback from the regulator.
Generally, the number of applications refused is not an indicator for the robustness of the regulatory regime.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the police funding formula.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Any future changes to the funding and resourcing of police forces in England and Wales will be considered and awarded in the normal way.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's plans are for Haslar Immigration Removal Centre.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Plans for the Haslar IRC will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the changes in the rate of mephedrone use in the (a) Gosport and Fareham area and (b) UK.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
Data specifically on the Gosport and Fareham area is not available as the Crime Survey for England and Wales does not allow sufficiently robust estimates to be made for smaller geographic areas.
For England and Wales as a whole, the 2013/14 Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that the proportion of people aged 16 to 59 who said they had taken mephedrone in the last year was 0.6 per cent. This compares with 1.3 per cent in the 2010/11 survey. The table shows figures for each year available. Mephedrone was not specifically asked about in the survey before 2010/11.
| Proportion of 16 to 59 year olds reporting use of mephedrone in the last year, 2010/11 to 2013/14 | ||||||
| England and Wales, 2013/14 CSEW | ||||||
| Percentages | ||||||
| 2010/11 | 1.3 | |||||
| 2011/12 | 1.0 | |||||
| 2012/13 | 0.5 | |||||
| 2013/14 | 0.6 | |||||
| Source: 2013/14 Crime Survey for England and Wales | ||||||
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to address the drivers of crime.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
Crime is down by more than a fifth under this Government, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
We are addressing the key drivers of crime by reshaping our approach to alcohol; tackling illicit and harmful drug use; taking action in a number of areas to stop young people getting involved in crime; and closing off opportunities to commit crimes, for example, by legislating on metal theft.
We have also established the Crime and Policing Knowledge Hub to improve our understanding of crime trends and the drivers of crime.
At the end of the month the Home Office will also host the first International Crime and Policing Conference to bring together leading academics and law enforcement professionals to further understand the drivers of crime and our response.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has any plans to introduce legislative proposals to criminalise the legal high known as gocaine.
Answered by Norman Baker
I refer to the Written Ministerial Statement of 12 December 2013, Official Report, column 58WS, in which I announced that the Coalition Government would conduct a review into new psychoactive substances led by a panel of experts. I have now considered the expert panel’s report on the review. The Government will respond to the expert panel’s report and its recommendations shortly.
The Coalition Government has already banned over three hundred and fifty new psychoactive substances. We work closely with law enforcement to tackle this reckless trade.
"Gocaine" is a brand name used for compounds advertised as new psychoactive substances. "Gocaine" samples analysed through the Home Office Forensic Early Warning System (FEWS) suggest the brand is usually associated with a mixture of compounds, including methiopropamine (MPA) and methylenedioxy-2-aminiondane (MDAI).
Neither of these substances is currently controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. However, we continue to update our drug controls under that Act in response to the availability and harms of new psychoactive substances. Such controls are informed by independent expert advice through a system of regular reviews by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) which monitors the situation in the UK, including MPA and MDAI.