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Written Question
Immigration: Public Appointments
Thursday 19th January 2023

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) relevant stakeholders on the appointment of a migrants commissioner; and what is the timeline for their appointment.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

A range of options have been considered for delivering the Windrush recommendations, including discussions with external stakeholders. The Home Office is taking steps to be more transparent to ensure that the department is as open as possible to all types of scrutiny, both internal and external.

We will keep the Home Affairs Select Committee updated on the progress of all the Wendy Williams recommendations.


Written Question
Visas: Care Workers and Health Professions
Wednesday 30th November 2022

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason it takes 16 weeks on average to receive a decision on Health and Care Workers visas; and what steps she is taking to reduce this amount of time.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office had been prioritising Ukraine Visa Scheme applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has impacted on the delivery of some of our service standards.

We remain focussed on the processing of Entry Clearance applications for Health & Care Workers, to assist them in entering the UK to take up employment in the Health and Care sector, and these are being decided within our published service standards. We have injected additional resource into the team and expect the time taken to assess Health and Care Worker in-country applications to reduce significantly.

Details on visa processing times are published on the Home Office website at: Visa decision waiting times - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) These are updated on a regular basis to inform customers of any changes that may affect their application.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 28 Nov 2022
Manston Update

Speech Link

View all Catherine West (Lab - Hornsey and Wood Green) contributions to the debate on: Manston Update

Written Question
Chinese Embassy: Demonstrations
Tuesday 15th November 2022

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps his Department has taken to protect people who protest outside the Chinese Embassy in London since the incident at the Chinese Consulate in Manchester.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights set out that everyone has the right to freedom of expression, assembly and association. This government will always fully support these rights, including the right of individuals to engage in peaceful protest.

It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to gather together and to demonstrate their views, provided that they do so within the law.

The management of demonstrations is an operational matter for the police. In certain circumstances, the police have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect those who want to exercise their rights peacefully.


Written Question
Metals: Theft
Tuesday 8th November 2022

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle metal theft across the country; and what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of licensing and regulatory requirements in the metals recycling sector in preventing the sale of stolen metals.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office engages at a national level with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, police forces and law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to understand the national picture on metal theft, and what can be done to tackle it. This includes supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Metal Crime Steering Group led by the NPCC lead for metal theft, ACC Charlie Doyle.

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 regulates the metal recycling sector, making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal. A 2017 review of the 2013 Act found it provides a strong legislative foundation. We will continue to keep the Act and supporting guidance under review and update where appropriate.

To support enforcement of the 2013 Act, the Home Office provided £177,000 seed corn funding in the 2020/21 financial year to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), ensuring co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. The Partnership facilitates data and intelligence sharing to partners to target offenders, understand emerging trends and implement crime prevention measures and has provided training to over 1,600 police officers and other law enforcement agencies in tackling metal theft.

Last month officers and partner agencies across the UK took part in the fourth national week of action tackling metal theft, heritage and waste crime. During the week officers visited 39 scrap metal dealers, 41 mobile collectors were stopped, and 16 offences were identified.


Written Question
Waste: Crime
Tuesday 8th November 2022

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will take steps to (a) provide additional funding to help tackle illegal unlicensed operators in the metals recycling sector and (b) launch a wider campaign to tackle waste crime.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office engages at a national level with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, police forces and law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to understand the national picture on metal theft, and what can be done to tackle it. This includes supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Metal Crime Steering Group led by the NPCC lead for metal theft, ACC Charlie Doyle.

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 regulates the metal recycling sector, making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal. A 2017 review of the 2013 Act found it provides a strong legislative foundation. We will continue to keep the Act and supporting guidance under review and update where appropriate.

To support enforcement of the 2013 Act, the Home Office provided £177,000 seed corn funding in the 2020/21 financial year to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), ensuring co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. The Partnership facilitates data and intelligence sharing to partners to target offenders, understand emerging trends and implement crime prevention measures and has provided training to over 1,600 police officers and other law enforcement agencies in tackling metal theft.

Last month officers and partner agencies across the UK took part in the fourth national week of action tackling metal theft, heritage and waste crime. During the week officers visited 39 scrap metal dealers, 41 mobile collectors were stopped, and 16 offences were identified.


Written Question
Lead: Theft
Thursday 27th October 2022

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Metropolitan Police on lead theft from buildings such as churches.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office engages at a national level with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, police forces and law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to understand the national picture on metal theft, including gas copper pipe theft, and what can be done to tackle it. This includes supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Metal Crime Steering Group led by the NPCC lead for metal theft, ACC Charlie Doyle. The Metropolitan Police is represented on this group.

The Home Office provided £177,000 seed corn funding in the 2020/21 financial year to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. The Partnership, facilitates data and intelligence sharing to partners to target offenders, understand emerging trends, and implement crime prevention measures. The partnership has provided training to over 1,600 police officers and other law enforcement agencies in tackling metal theft.

We have also provided funding to Historic England for a project to mark lead from church roofs and explore how to best prevent and investigate theft and illicit disposal of metal from historic sites.


Written Question
Copper: Theft
Thursday 27th October 2022

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Metropolitan Police on gas copper pipe theft.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office engages at a national level with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, police forces and law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to understand the national picture on metal theft, including gas copper pipe theft, and what can be done to tackle it. This includes supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Metal Crime Steering Group led by the NPCC lead for metal theft, ACC Charlie Doyle. The Metropolitan Police is represented on this group.

The Home Office provided £177,000 seed corn funding in the 2020/21 financial year to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. The Partnership, facilitates data and intelligence sharing to partners to target offenders, understand emerging trends, and implement crime prevention measures. The partnership has provided training to over 1,600 police officers and other law enforcement agencies in tackling metal theft.

We have also provided funding to Historic England for a project to mark lead from church roofs and explore how to best prevent and investigate theft and illicit disposal of metal from historic sites.


Written Question
Home Office: Ministers
Tuesday 18th October 2022

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will appoint a new Minister for Refugees.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Immigration Minister is responsible for safe and legal routes to the UK.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 13 Oct 2022
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill

Speech Link

View all Catherine West (Lab - Hornsey and Wood Green) contributions to the debate on: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill