Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology on Ofcom’s advice entitled Categorisation - research and advice, in the context of the Online Safety Act 2023.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology is carefully considering Ofcom’s research and advice and will make Regulations as soon as reasonably practicable.
The Secretary of State for the Home Department meets regularly with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology to discuss a range of topics, including on online safety. Officials also meet regularly and are working closely together.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help protect workers travelling home late at night who are at risk of sexual violence.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government will treat tackling violence against women and girls as a national emergency and will use every tool to target perpetrators and address the root causes of violence on our streets.
We want women to feel safe and will use every lever to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade, across the whole of government, with policing and other experts.
To make our streets safe, we must drastically reduce serious violent crime and violence against women and girls, increase confidence in the police, stop young people falling into crime, and make our criminal justice system work for victims.
No one should ever have to face the risk of violence or harassment when travelling. This government is taking action to make sure our transport network is safe for all. The Department for Transport is working closely with transport partners, including the British Transport Police, on a range of initiatives to address the problems faced by different users, including women and girls, on the transport network.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on the citizenship status of individuals with British National (Overseas) visas.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) status holders may apply for a BN(O) visa which entitles them and their dependent family members to reside in the UK. After completing 5 years’ qualifying residence in the UK, and being free from immigration time restrictions for a further year, BN(O) visa holders and their dependent family members may apply for British citizenship.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Rwandan nationals have successfully applied for asylum in the UK since 2019.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on grants by nationality are published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to 2023.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with our international obligations under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Those who need protection are normally granted refugee status or humanitarian protection.
All asylum and human rights claims lodged from within the UK and admitted to the UK asylum system, including those seeking asylum from Rwanda, are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations, and against the background of relevant case law, policy guidance, and the latest available country of origin information.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate he has made of the average cost to the public purse of deporting a refugee to Rwanda.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The most recently published information, which includes a breakdown of the per person costs, is the National Audit Office Report which can be found here: UK-Rwanda Partnership - NAO report.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many reports were made of (a) rape and (b) other serious sexual offences by an alleged perpetrator under the age of 18 in (i) each police force area and (ii) the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by Laura Farris
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of rape and sexual offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, and their investigative outcomes, including the number of charge/summons. This information is published by Police Force Area on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Home Office does not hold information on perpetrators under the age of 18. Statistics on convictions in England and Wales, including rape and sexual offences by perpetrator age, are published by the Ministry of Justice, in the release Criminal Justice System Statistics Quarterly, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly
Scotland have a different method of recording sexual offences to England and Wales but information on crimes and offences recorded by the police, including clear ups of crimes, can be accessed here:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2022-23/
Information on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Northern Ireland, including investigative outcomes, can be accessed here:
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many charges have been brought against alleged perpetrators under the age of 18 for (a) rape and (b) serious sexual offences in each of the last five years (i) nationally and (ii) by police force area.
Answered by Laura Farris
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of rape and sexual offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, and their investigative outcomes, including the number of charge/summons. This information is published by Police Force Area on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Home Office does not hold information on perpetrators under the age of 18. Statistics on convictions in England and Wales, including rape and sexual offences by perpetrator age, are published by the Ministry of Justice, in the release Criminal Justice System Statistics Quarterly, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly
Scotland have a different method of recording sexual offences to England and Wales but information on crimes and offences recorded by the police, including clear ups of crimes, can be accessed here:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2022-23/
Information on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Northern Ireland, including investigative outcomes, can be accessed here:
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many convictions there have been for (a) rape and (b) serious sexual offences where the perpetrator was under the age of 18 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Laura Farris
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of rape and sexual offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, and their investigative outcomes, including the number of charge/summons. This information is published by Police Force Area on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Home Office does not hold information on perpetrators under the age of 18. Statistics on convictions in England and Wales, including rape and sexual offences by perpetrator age, are published by the Ministry of Justice, in the release Criminal Justice System Statistics Quarterly, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly
Scotland have a different method of recording sexual offences to England and Wales but information on crimes and offences recorded by the police, including clear ups of crimes, can be accessed here:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2022-23/
Information on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Northern Ireland, including investigative outcomes, can be accessed here:
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of refugees that will be deported to Rwanda (a) on the first flight and (b) in each of the 12 months following the first flight.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
This is operationally sensitive information.
We have been clear that the scheme is uncapped.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the provisions on knives in the Criminal Justice Bill will also extend to weapons used for historical re-enactments.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
In the Criminal Justice Bill 2023 we are introducing three measures to tackle knife crime:
These measures will apply to all pointed or bladed articles, including those used for historical re-enactment.
On 25 January we laid the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Amendment, Surrender and Compensation) Order 2024 in Parliament. The Order has now been approved by both Houses of Parliament and this will prohibit the manufacture, supply, sale and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes from 24 September 2024.
Zombie-style knives are defined in the Statutory Instrument and to fall under the legislation would need to be a bladed article with a plain cutting edge and a sharp pointed end, with a blade of over 8 inches in length, which also has one or more of, a serrated cutting edge, more than one hole in the blade, spikes or more than two sharp points in the blade.
Items which match this criteria will fall under the legislation including those used for historical re-enactment; however, there is a defence in the legislation for in scope items which are blunt.