Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle the challenges of policing (a) criminal and (b) anti-social use of off-road bikes.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission to take back our streets.
The Government will give police the powers they need to take illegal, dangerous and antisocial bikes off the streets for good, so that they will be able to quickly destroy the bikes that they seize from offenders. We will set out more information in due course.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the the minimum income requirement for spousal visa applications.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We keep all policies under review. Any changes will be announced to Parliament in the normal way.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of synthetic opioids; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies of (a) related crises and (b) governmental responses in (i) the USA and (ii) Canada.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Tackling Class A drugs, including synthetic opioids, is a priority for the Government due to the harm caused to users, society and the economy.
We assess that the scale of trafficking of synthetic opioids into the UK remains low, including relative to countries like the USA and Canada where they have caused devastation. Sadly, nitazenes have been linked to more than 100 deaths in the UK during the last year, and we are taking action.
The cross-Government Synthetic Opioids Taskforce is working with partners, such as the NCA, the Department for Health and Social Care and the National Police Chiefs Council to deliver an evidence-based response to the risk posed by synthetic opioids, and to implement effective action to stem the demand and supply of these dangerous substances.
We regularly meet bilaterally with our partners in the USA and Canada to understand the tragic situation in North America and to learn from their responses. We are key members of the US-led Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, and I recently attended the UN’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna to meet with and learn from partners across the world.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of (a) expansion and (b) potential roll-out across the UK of the WEDINOS laboratory drug-testing service.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government has not made a formal assessment of the benefits of drug testing services but it recognises the potential harm reduction benefits of them. The Government facilitates drug testing services provided that the possession and supply of controlled drugs are licensed by the Home Office Drugs and Firearms Licensing Unit or, exceptionally, relevant exemptions under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 may apply.
Ministers are clear that drug testing services must not condone drug use and should only be delivered where licensed and operated responsibly, in line with Government policy to ensure that they discourage drug use and signpost potential users to treatment and support.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that the police have due regard to protecting the freedom of journalistic (a) photography and (b) other activity when implementing powers under the National Security Act 2023 relating to activity in the vicinity of prohibited places.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Shadow Minister (Home Office) (Security)
The prohibited places measures were included under the National Security Act to safeguard the United Kingdom’s most sensitive sites from hostile activity. The accompanying police powers enable the police to protect these sites by requiring people to not engage in certain conduct and to move away from these places where they have a reasonable belief that doing so is necessary to protect the safety or interests of the United Kingdom.
Recognised journalists conducting activity on or near prohibited sites – for example, a journalist taking photos from outside a prohibited place – where they do not have a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK and there is nothing to suggest taking photographs is not permitted, such as signage or other distinguishing marker, would not commit an offence.
The police have access to comprehensive guidance on how officers should use the powers in relation to prohibited places under the National Security Act 2023. We do not routinely publish internal guidance, however, further resources and information on the prohibited places regime are available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish the guidance his Department issues to the police on the implementation of powers under the National Security Act 2023 with regard to protecting journalistic (a) photography and (b) other activity in the vicinity of prohibited places.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Shadow Minister (Home Office) (Security)
The prohibited places measures were included under the National Security Act to safeguard the United Kingdom’s most sensitive sites from hostile activity. The accompanying police powers enable the police to protect these sites by requiring people to not engage in certain conduct and to move away from these places where they have a reasonable belief that doing so is necessary to protect the safety or interests of the United Kingdom.
Recognised journalists conducting activity on or near prohibited sites – for example, a journalist taking photos from outside a prohibited place – where they do not have a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK and there is nothing to suggest taking photographs is not permitted, such as signage or other distinguishing marker, would not commit an offence.
The police have access to comprehensive guidance on how officers should use the powers in relation to prohibited places under the National Security Act 2023. We do not routinely publish internal guidance, however, further resources and information on the prohibited places regime are available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2024 to Question 12789 on Offences against Children, what steps is he taking to incorporate paragraph 35 of General Comment 26 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to allow the (a) police and (b) other public authorities to investigate child welfare and safeguarding when an individual is suspected of a violent animal welfare offence.
Answered by Laura Farris
We believe our existing domestic legislation gives effect to the rights within the UNCRC, without the need for it to be incorporated through an additional Bill. For example, the Children Act 1989 and Children Act 2004 sets out a range of duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the cumulative number of years of experience held by all police officers in (a) 2010 and (b) 2024.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the length of service of police officers employed within the police service in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
Information on the length of service of police officers employed in England and Wales has been published since 2016 and can be found in Table JL5 in the data tables accompanying each publication.
Data for as at 31 March 2024 will be published in July 2024 as part of the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.
We delivered our commitment to recruit 20,000 additional police officers. There are now over 149,000 officers in England and Wales, higher than the previous peak before the Police Uplift Programme, in March 2010.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require banks to compensate victims of fraud in circumstances in which anti-fraud banking protocols have not been followed.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Shadow Minister (Home Office) (Security)
To protect victims against authorised push payment (APP) scams, ten of the UK’s largest banks are currently signed up to the voluntary Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) Code. In 2022, £248m of losses to APP scams were reimbursed to victims under the commitments of this code.
Further, through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, the government legislated to require the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to introduce mandatory reimbursement for APP scams within the Faster Payment System, where 98% of APP fraud takes place. The PSR has confirmed that mandatory reimbursement will come into force in October 2024.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has received representations from Durham County Council on the conversion of family homes into houses of multiple occupation for the accommodation of asylum seekers by the Mears Group.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered.
The Home Office hold monthly meetings between asylum accommodation contract providers, Strategic Migration Partnerships and local authorities for each region. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss proposed asylum dispersal properties, allowing the views of local authorities to be aired for Home Office consideration.