Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to increase the number of (a) police and (b) police community support officers in (a) Kingston upon Hull and (b) Humberside.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We are recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers by March 2023, the biggest recruitment drive in decades. As at 31 March 2022, 13,576 additional officers have been recruited as part of the Police Uplift Programme in England and Wales, 68% of the 20,000 officer target.
At 31 March 2022, Humberside police has recruited 237 additional uplift officers against a combined year 1 and 2 uplift allocation of 193 officers. The force has been allocated 129 additional uplift officers in the final year of Uplift.
The 20,000 figure refers to warranted police officers. Decisions about how police resources are deployed, including police community support officers, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners.
Data on the number of PCSOs in each of the territorial police forces in England and Wales are published biannually in the “Police workforce, England and Wales” statistical bulletin, available here: Police workforce England and Wales statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to increase support for the further use of CCTV and improved lighting to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Through the Safer Streets Fund, we are providing local organisations, including local authorities, with the resources they need to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour through evidence based and innovative interventions including improved CCTV and lighting.
£50 million per year is being invested in the Safer Streets Fund over the next three years, and since the Fund was established, we have already invested £70 million.
Round Four of the Fund launched in March with the primary focus of targeting neighbourhood crime, violence against women and girls and, for the first time, anti-social behaviour. Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities, and certain civil society organisations across England and Wales were eligible to bid for funding and bids are currently being assessed.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that visa applicants from all countries are given adequate resources to help minimise delays in deciding their applications.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office continually reviews its global visa operation to improve performance and ensure value for money while maintaining good customer service.
The Home Office is currently prioritising Ukraine Visa Schemes applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We are communicating directly with customers that applications for study, work and family visas are taking longer to process at this time. Staff are being redeployed to these visa routes and we continue to onboard and train more staff, as we approach the expected summer surge in visa applications to study in the UK.
Where there are compassionate or compelling circumstances (for example, a medical emergency), the Home Office will consider expediting specific cases. However, the bar for this is high and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis to ensure fairness to all applicants.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish the Animal and Science Regulation Unit Annual Report for 2019-20.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office intends to publish the Animal and Science Regulation Unit Annual Report for 2019-20 by summer recess.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of commissioning a scientific review of the knowledge gained from animal experiments with respect to their relevance to human biology.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The UK’s rigorous regulatory system ensures that no animal testing or research takes place if there is a non-animal alternative that would achieve the scientific outcomes sought.
The National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs) is the UK’s leading scientific based organisation dedicated to replacing, refining and reducing the use of animals in scientific research and testing. The NC3Rs supports the research community to use the latest science and technology to replace animal studies, providing new approaches for biomedical research and avoiding the time and cost associated with animal models.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the current waiting period in the Homes for Ukraine scheme from registering interest to receiving an update from the Home Office regarding the status of an application.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The current guidance for those wishing to apply to the Homes for Ukraine scheme is available on the GOV.UK webpage: Homes for Ukraine scheme: frequently asked questions - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to publish a step-by-step guide to the Homes for Ukraine scheme to enable full understanding of the process for applicants.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The current guidance for those wishing to apply to the Homes for Ukraine scheme is available on the GOV.UK webpage: Homes for Ukraine scheme: frequently asked questions - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of offering all police officers training on the use of tasers.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The government is committed to giving the police the necessary tools to do their job. TASER® provides officers with an important tactical option when facing potentially violent situations.
The Home Office supports the use of TASER® by specially trained officers in line with national policing guidance. The number of TASER® trained officers within a force is an operational matter and is determined by chief officers in line with their respective force’s Strategic Threat and Risk Assessments.