Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report on changes to women’s State Pension age, published on 21 March 2024, what correspondence his Department has received from Women Against State Pension Inequality representatives on that matter since publication of that report.
Answered by Paul Maynard
A search had been conducted within the Ministerial Correspondence Team and one letter has been received. However, as the Department does not have a centrally collated database a further search would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report report on changes to women’s State Pension age, published on 21 March 2024, if he will meet with Women Against State Pension Inequality representatives.
Answered by Paul Maynard
In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of the House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of people who are victims of (a) controlling prostitution for gain, (b) causing or inciting prostitution for gain and (c) trafficking for sexual exploitation advertised for prostitution on adult services websites in Hull North.
Answered by Laura Farris
The Government keeps legislation under review to ensure it keeps pace with the evolving threat of crime.
Section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 is a strict liability offence. That means that, for the police to charge a case they need evidence that the suspect had paid for sexual services from an individual, and that that individual was subjected to force or control by another. They do not need to prove criminal intent. The penalty for a Section 53A offence is a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (up to £1,000). In gathering evidence of a Section 53A offence, the police will prioritise actions that may lead to charges for more serious offences, such as modern slavery or causing or inciting or controlling prostitution for gain. The penalty for modern slavery is up to life imprisonment and for the latter offence up to 7 years’ imprisonment.
The Home Office publishes police recorded crime data for the exploitation of prostitution offences (sections 52 and 53 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) and modern slavery offences, but information about the facilitation of those crimes is not held centrally. Data is not available at the requested geographical level, however data by police force area can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables.
The Online Safety Act 2023 will place a duty on adult service websites to proactively identify and remove content linked to criminal activity and a duty to prevent illegal content relating to sexual exploitation appearing on their sites. Companies will need to adopt systems and processes to identify, assess and address sexual exploitation and human trafficking activity based on a risk assessment.
Law enforcement is also running an adult service website referral pilot where adverts are referred to the Tackling Organised Exploitation capability (housed in Regional Organised Crime Units) to gather intelligence and identify organised criminal activity.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of raising the maximum penalty for offences committed under Section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act.
Answered by Laura Farris
The Government keeps legislation under review to ensure it keeps pace with the evolving threat of crime.
Section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 is a strict liability offence. That means that, for the police to charge a case they need evidence that the suspect had paid for sexual services from an individual, and that that individual was subjected to force or control by another. They do not need to prove criminal intent. The penalty for a Section 53A offence is a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (up to £1,000). In gathering evidence of a Section 53A offence, the police will prioritise actions that may lead to charges for more serious offences, such as modern slavery or causing or inciting or controlling prostitution for gain. The penalty for modern slavery is up to life imprisonment and for the latter offence up to 7 years’ imprisonment.
The Home Office publishes police recorded crime data for the exploitation of prostitution offences (sections 52 and 53 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) and modern slavery offences, but information about the facilitation of those crimes is not held centrally. Data is not available at the requested geographical level, however data by police force area can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables.
The Online Safety Act 2023 will place a duty on adult service websites to proactively identify and remove content linked to criminal activity and a duty to prevent illegal content relating to sexual exploitation appearing on their sites. Companies will need to adopt systems and processes to identify, assess and address sexual exploitation and human trafficking activity based on a risk assessment.
Law enforcement is also running an adult service website referral pilot where adverts are referred to the Tackling Organised Exploitation capability (housed in Regional Organised Crime Units) to gather intelligence and identify organised criminal activity.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people applying to the Windrush Compensation Scheme have been asked to do a DNA test.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
No applicants to the Windrush Compensation Scheme have been asked to do a DNA test.
The Windrush Compensation Scheme does not require claimants to complete a DNA test to confirm they are eligible under the scheme. If the evidence or information initially provided by a claimant is insufficient to confirm their eligibility for the Scheme, they may be sent a non-exhaustive list of further types of information or evidence that could be submitted. Decision Makers will work directly with individuals to support them with this.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of paying for medical care for people deported to Rwanda who subsequently require treatment outside that country.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
Anyone relocated to Rwanda will receive care that is at least of the standard available to Rwandan nationals. This is provided for through private health insurance. Referrals for specific care that cannot be provided within Rwanda can be made under the insurance contract to a third country, with consent of the individual, and as confirmed by a medical referral board. In narrow cases where referrals made are not covered by the insurance contract, the cost will be covered by the Government of Rwanda.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people applying to the Windrush Compensation Scheme have asked for (a) a review of their compensation decision and (b) an independent adjudicator to review their compensation decision.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Information relating to how many individuals have asked the Windrush Compensation award offer to be reviewed is included in Windrush Compensation Scheme Transparency Data which is published regularly. The latest published data, covering the period up to March 2024, is available here: Windrush Compensation Scheme data: March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The relevant data can be found on page WCS_09 - Volume of Tier one and Tier two reviews and outcome.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of the average financial impact of changes to the State Pension age for women born in the 1950s residing in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.
Answered by Paul Maynard
We do not hold regional figures on the financial impact of changes to State Pension age.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2024 to Question 24749 on Prostitution: Internet, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of criminalising the (a) enablement of and (b) profiting from prostitution of others.
Answered by Laura Farris
The acts of buying and selling sex are not in themselves illegal in England and Wales. Research the Home Office commissioned in 2019 on the nature of sex work and prostitution in England and Wales found that some sex workers use technology to manage their safety, and so criminalising the enablement of prostitution online could put these individuals at greater risk of harm.
However, we recognise that advertising of sexual services has increasingly moved online, and that adult service websites can be used enable sexual exploitation. That is why the Online Safety Act 2023 ensures online platforms are responsible and accountable for content on their sites and take proactive steps to prevent their sites being used by criminals. The Act will make the UK the safest place to be online and will require online platforms to proactively identify and remove content linked to priority offences, including controlling and inciting prostitution for gain.
Safeguarding Ministers met the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for sex work on 31 January 2023, 24 May 2022, 6 February 2019, 19 April 2018 and 27 Nov 2017.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2024 to Question 24750 on National Police Chiefs' Council, on what dates the five meetings between Ministers and the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for sex work took place.
Answered by Laura Farris
The acts of buying and selling sex are not in themselves illegal in England and Wales. Research the Home Office commissioned in 2019 on the nature of sex work and prostitution in England and Wales found that some sex workers use technology to manage their safety, and so criminalising the enablement of prostitution online could put these individuals at greater risk of harm.
However, we recognise that advertising of sexual services has increasingly moved online, and that adult service websites can be used enable sexual exploitation. That is why the Online Safety Act 2023 ensures online platforms are responsible and accountable for content on their sites and take proactive steps to prevent their sites being used by criminals. The Act will make the UK the safest place to be online and will require online platforms to proactively identify and remove content linked to priority offences, including controlling and inciting prostitution for gain.
Safeguarding Ministers met the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for sex work on 31 January 2023, 24 May 2022, 6 February 2019, 19 April 2018 and 27 Nov 2017.