Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what statistics his Department holds on car thefts; and whether those statistics are broken down by (a) police force area and (b) parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office holds data on the number and outcomes of the offences ‘Aggravated vehicle taking’ and ‘Theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle’, recorded by the police in England and Wales. The data are available by Police Force Area (PFA) and Community Safety Partnership (CSP) and can be found in the Police Recorded Crime and Outcomes open data tables, published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables
It is not possible to distinguish within the data which crimes were specifically related to theft of cars rather than other types of vehicles.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hate crimes were recorded in (a) the West Midlands police area and (b) Wolverhampton in 2018; and how many of those cases resulted in a (i) prosecution and (ii) conviction.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of hate crimes recorded by the police by Police Force Area only. Information for West Midlands Police for 2017/18 can be found in Table 2.01 of the Hate Crime appendix tables available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2017-to-2018. Data for 2018/19 are due to be published later this year.
Information on prosecutions and convictions is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of abolishing the charge for phone calls to the 101 non emergency number.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office is reviewing charges for the 101 non-emergency telephone number.
While it may not be an option for everyone, the public can also report non-emergency crimes online via forces’ websites, free of charge.
The Home Office is supporting the digital transformation of policing through programmes such as the Digital Policing Portfolio (DPP), led by the NPCC. Within the DPP, the Digital Public Contact programme aims to provide appropriate digital channels for the public to report and track crime online, facilitating greater public-police interaction in real time.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to abolish the 15 pence charge for 101 calls to the emergency services.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office is reviewing charges for the 101 non-emergency telephone number.
While it may not be an option for everyone, the public can also report non-emergency crimes online via forces’ websites, free of charge.
The Home Office is supporting the digital transformation of policing through programmes such as the Digital Policing Portfolio (DPP), led by the NPCC. Within the DPP, the Digital Public Contact programme aims to provide appropriate digital channels for the public to report and track crime online, facilitating greater public-police interaction in real time.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much money West Midlands Police has spent on gun licence applications in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nick Hurd
This information is not held centrally by the Home Office.
We will be looking at the overall costs to the police of their firearms licensing functions when we next review firearms licensing fees in 2020.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on police numbers in the West Midlands of the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and what estimate he has made of the proportion of West Midlands Police officers that will be deployed to other forces under police Mutual Aid arrangements.
Answered by Nick Hurd
It is entirely responsible and appropriate that we prepare for every eventuality and we will continue to work closely with all of our operational partners, including the police, on contingency planning to ensure the safety and security of our citizens.
Decisions on arrangements for police use and deployment of resources are operational matters for policing and are the responsibility of Chief Constables and not the Home Office.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department plans to announce the final details of the Windrush compensation scheme.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government has committed to putting into place the Windrush com-pensation scheme and is grateful to those who responded to the public consultation that closed on 16 November.
As the Home Secretary announced on 8 February, we are considering the outcome of the consultation exercise and will respond as soon as possible with further details, including who is eligible to apply for compensation and how they can access the scheme.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the length of time it will take to fully compensate everyone eligible under the Windrush compensation scheme.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government has committed to putting into place the Windrush compensation scheme and is grateful to those who responded to the public consultation that closed on 16 November.
As the Home Secretary announced on 8 February, we are considering the outcome of the consultation exercise and will respond as soon as possible with further details, including when the scheme will be open for claims and for how long.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department plans to announce the final results of the Windrush lessons learned review.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Secretary is absolutely determined to learn from and right the wrongs of the past, and he looks forward to receiving the lessons learned report when the review concludes. He will consider the recommendations from the review carefully and announce appropriate action.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans his Department has to make specialist support and accommodation for trafficked children available under the National Referral Mechanism.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Independent Child Trafficking Advocates (ICTAs) are a source of specialist support for trafficked children. In July 2018, the Government announced that it would roll out the service to eligible children in one third of local authorities in England and Wales by April 2019.
The Government is committed to rolling ICTAs out nationally. Section 48 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which makes provisions for ICTAs, is being considered in the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act, led by Frank Field MP, Maria Miller MP, and Baroness Butler-Sloss. The Government will carefully consider any recommendations about ICTAs which come out of the Review ahead of any national rollout.
Local authorities play a pivotal role in the safeguarding of all children in their care, regardless of their backgrounds or experiences. It is absolutely right that local authorities continue to make decisions about the placement and welfare of children, which includes ensuring they have access to suitable accommodation. To support this, in addition to the national rollout of ICTAs, we have revised statutory guidance on the care of unaccompanied children and child victims of modern slavery and funded 1,000 additional training places for foster carers and support workers.