Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many arrests have been made for the offence of coercive control in each region and constituent part of the UK in the last 12 months.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The information requested is not held centrally by the Home Office.
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of arrests by each police force in England and Wales at offence group level (e.g. violence against the person, sexual offences etc.). However, the data cannot be broken down to specifically identify the number of arrests for controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship (coercive control).
We are committed to improving the data on domestic abuse. The Office for National Statistics has published a new statistical bulletin that brings together comprehensive data on domestic abuse at a local level. Additional data will be added to the annual series as it becomes available.
Guidance for professionals on the new offence of coercive control was published in December 2015 and the Crown Prosecution Service is closely monitoring performance. New transformative training has been piloted by the College of Policing and is in the process of being rolled out further.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much time each police force in England has allocated to train officers on the offence of coercive control.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The information requested is not held centrally by the Home Office.
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of arrests by each police force in England and Wales at offence group level (e.g. violence against the person, sexual offences etc.). However, the data cannot be broken down to specifically identify the number of arrests for controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship (coercive control).
We are committed to improving the data on domestic abuse. The Office for National Statistics has published a new statistical bulletin that brings together comprehensive data on domestic abuse at a local level. Additional data will be added to the annual series as it becomes available.
Guidance for professionals on the new offence of coercive control was published in December 2015 and the Crown Prosecution Service is closely monitoring performance. New transformative training has been piloted by the College of Policing and is in the process of being rolled out further.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions fire service vehicles have been called out to prisons in each of the last five years.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
All of our published information on incidents attended by fire and rescue services (FRSs) can be found on this page - www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables
Table 0301 on the above page includes information on the locations of fire, grouped by broad categories. Fires in prisons are included within the “Other public buildings and services” category.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times children have been detained overnight in police custody for non-payment of fines in each of the last five years.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of detentions of children made for non-payment of fines. The Home Office collect and publish data on the number of persons detained for more than 24 hours under part IV of the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act broken down by the length of detention and police force area.
These data cannot be broken down by age or to identify those arrested or detained for non-payment of fines. The available data are published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, by what process her Department identified the areas of policy within its responsibility proposed for reservation in Annex B of the publication Powers for a Purpose: Towards a lasting devolution settlement for Wales, published on 27 February 2015.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Annex B to the Powers for a Purpose Command Paper provided an illustrative list of the main areas in which reservations would be needed in a reserved powers model. The list described the Government’s emerging thinking as the new reserved powers model was being developed. The Government published its full proposals in the draft Wales Bill on 20 October.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the matters within her Department's responsibility in Schedule 1 of the draft Wales Bill have been designated as reserved.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The reservations listed in Schedule 1 to the draft Wales Bill reflect the Government’s view of where the Welsh devolution boundary lies following the devolution of further powers to the Assembly provided for in the draft Bill.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times she has (a) met and (b) corresponded with a minister of the Welsh Government on the draft Wales Bill in the last 12 months.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Wales Office is the lead Government department on the draft Wales Bill, and is the primary point of contact with the Welsh Government on matters related to the draft Bill.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what definition her Department uses of the term psychoactive substance.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), the Government’s independent body of expert drug advisers, has carried out a series of assessments on new psychoactive substances (NPS). In its 2011 report ‘Consideration of the Novel Psychoactive Substances (‘Legal Highs’)’, the ACMD assessed the available evidence on the harms of all NPS. Since then, the ACMD has produced several reports on groups of NPS as well as specific substances. This body of advice has informed Government action and led to the banning of over 500 NPS. All ACMD reports and Government responses are available on GOV.UK. The Government commissioned an Expert Panel to look at ways to tackle NPS and to further enhance our response last year. On 28 May, the Government introduced the Psychoactive Substances Bill in the House of Lords, which provides for a blanket ban on the supply of psychoactive substances. The Bill defines the term psychoactive substance as any substance which is capable of producing a psychoactive effect in a person who consumes it, and is not an exempted substance. Exempted substances include medicines and caffeine. A substance produces a psychoactive effect in a person if, by stimulating or depressing the person’s central nervous system, it affects the person’s mental functioning or emotional state. We have worked with a range of partners, including with the devolved administrations, as well as other government departments and their agencies over the last few years as we developed our response to NPS. We will continue to do so in order to ensure that the Psychoactive Substances Bill is effectively implemented and enforced.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent research her Department has undertaken to ascertain the safety of legal highs; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), the Government’s independent body of expert drug advisers, has carried out a series of assessments on new psychoactive substances (NPS). In its 2011 report ‘Consideration of the Novel Psychoactive Substances (‘Legal Highs’)’, the ACMD assessed the available evidence on the harms of all NPS. Since then, the ACMD has produced several reports on groups of NPS as well as specific substances. This body of advice has informed Government action and led to the banning of over 500 NPS. All ACMD reports and Government responses are available on GOV.UK. The Government commissioned an Expert Panel to look at ways to tackle NPS and to further enhance our response last year. On 28 May, the Government introduced the Psychoactive Substances Bill in the House of Lords, which provides for a blanket ban on the supply of psychoactive substances. The Bill defines the term psychoactive substance as any substance which is capable of producing a psychoactive effect in a person who consumes it, and is not an exempted substance. Exempted substances include medicines and caffeine. A substance produces a psychoactive effect in a person if, by stimulating or depressing the person’s central nervous system, it affects the person’s mental functioning or emotional state. We have worked with a range of partners, including with the devolved administrations, as well as other government departments and their agencies over the last few years as we developed our response to NPS. We will continue to do so in order to ensure that the Psychoactive Substances Bill is effectively implemented and enforced.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with (a) health bodies, (b) youth organisations, (c) local government and (d) the devolved administration on legal highs; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), the Government’s independent body of expert drug advisers, has carried out a series of assessments on new psychoactive substances (NPS). In its 2011 report ‘Consideration of the Novel Psychoactive Substances (‘Legal Highs’)’, the ACMD assessed the available evidence on the harms of all NPS. Since then, the ACMD has produced several reports on groups of NPS as well as specific substances. This body of advice has informed Government action and led to the banning of over 500 NPS. All ACMD reports and Government responses are available on GOV.UK. The Government commissioned an Expert Panel to look at ways to tackle NPS and to further enhance our response last year. On 28 May, the Government introduced the Psychoactive Substances Bill in the House of Lords, which provides for a blanket ban on the supply of psychoactive substances. The Bill defines the term psychoactive substance as any substance which is capable of producing a psychoactive effect in a person who consumes it, and is not an exempted substance. Exempted substances include medicines and caffeine. A substance produces a psychoactive effect in a person if, by stimulating or depressing the person’s central nervous system, it affects the person’s mental functioning or emotional state. We have worked with a range of partners, including with the devolved administrations, as well as other government departments and their agencies over the last few years as we developed our response to NPS. We will continue to do so in order to ensure that the Psychoactive Substances Bill is effectively implemented and enforced.