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 it her policy to create a statutory duty on fire and rescue services to respond to major flooding events.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Fire and Rescue Authorities have duties under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) to prepare for emergencies, including major flooding. Fire Rescue Authorities also have discretionary powers to respond to incidents under their general powers in the Fire and Rescue Services Act (2004) and in response to the risks set out in their Community Risk Management Plans prepared under the National Framework.
The Home Office is undertaking further work alongside Defra, the National Fire Chiefs Council and other relevant stakeholders to understand in more detail if there are gaps in the Fire and Rescue Services flooding response and resilience system.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the Migration Advisory Committee's planned timetable is for completing its review of the financial requirements in the family immigration rules.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Secretary announced that she would commission the Migration Advisory Committee to review the financial immigration requirements on the Family Immigration Rules. We expect the review to take approximately 9 months which will include a call for evidence to ensure sufficient stakeholder engagement.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps is she taking to increase the number of (a) wholetime and (b) retained firefighters.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work. Overall, fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.87 billion in 2024/25. Standalone FRAs will see an increase in core spending power of £95.4m in 2024/25. This is an increase of 5.6 per cent in cash terms compared to 2023/24.
Decisions on how fire and rescue services are run, and how their resources and crewing number, are for the local Chief Fire Officers and their democratically elected fire and rescue authority. They are responsible for ensuring the needs and demands of their local community are met and are able to direct their resources where they are needed most.
All Fire and Rescue Authorities have a statutory duty to produce a Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) in which they set out the key challenges and risks facing their communities and how they intend to meet and reduce them. This is in line with the Fire and Rescue National Framework, which is the document by which the Home Office sets strategic requirements for the fire and rescue service.
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 of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
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 Home Secretary
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 Home Secretary
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
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
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.