Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (a) on which motorways and (b) at which locations on those motorways automatic number plate recognition cameras are in use; and what offences such cameras are being used to detect.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology is used to help detect vehicles suspected of being involved in a broad range of offences, including tackling travelling criminals, organised crime groups and terrorists, and disrupting criminality at a local, force, regional and national level.
The Home Office does not hold the information on which motorways – and at which locations on those motorways – automatic number plate recognition cameras are in use. This is an operational matter for individual Chief Constables
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to address robberies and assaults by gangs on scooters and mopeds.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We are working with other government departments, the police, industry and representative groups to identify what more can be done to prevent these crimes and to keep the public safe, and to develop an action plan focused on real and effective action.
This work sits alongside the review that the Government is currently conducting to look at the law, guidance and practice surrounding police pursuits and response driving.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has any plans to introduce gun licensing for air guns similar to that in force in Northern Ireland and Scotland; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office has commenced a review of the regulation of air weapons in England and Wales, and we have asked for the views of a number of interested parties on this. We have also asked that anybody who wishes to share their views on this issue with us do so by 6 February 2018.
This review will take account of the arrangements in Scotland and Northern Ireland where air weapons are subject to a licensing regime, and we will also be looking at issues such as manufacturing standards, secure storage and whether current arrangements are sufficient to prevent children gaining access to air weapons. We will publish the outcome of the review in due course.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the extent of the potential use of cryptocurrencies for criminal purposes; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Ben Wallace
In the National Strategic Assessment published by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in 2017, the NCA assessed that cryptocurrencies will remain an enabler for online criminality because of their accessibility, perceived anonymity, speed of cross-border payments and irreversible payment mechanism. http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/807-national-strategic-assessment-of-serious-and-organised-crime-2017/file
The UK’s first National Risk Assessment (NRA) of money laundering was published on 15 October 2015. It identified the threats and vulnerabilities faced in this area, and assessed that such currencies posed a low risk for money laundering.
The Government is currently updating the NRA, which will provide an updated view of the money laundering risk posed by cryptocurrencies. The NRA will be published in the autumn.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle provision of terrorist and extremist propaganda through social media, the internet and other online sources.
Answered by Sarah Newton
This Government has been clear there should be no safe space online for terrorists and their supporters to radicalise, recruit, incite, or inspire. The UK has been at the forefront of the online battle against extremist and terrorist material. The dedicated police Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) refers content that they assess as contravening UK terrorism legislation to industry and have secured the removal of over 280,000 pieces of terrorist-related material since its inception in February 2010.
This government continue to work with technology companies to encourage them to be more proactive in tackling terrorist material on the internet. Following a roundtable with the Home Secretary on 30 March 2017, Twitter, Facebook, Google and Microsoft announced they would look at options for establishing a global industry led forum specifically focussed on tackling online terrorist content. The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism was formally launched on 26 June 2017. We continue to engage regularly with industry and international partners to ensure the forum will have a truly sustained and positive impact in tackling the evolving online threat posed by terrorists.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to encourage police forces to make use of social media to (a) pass information onto communities which they serve and (b) assist in tackling crime; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Modern Crime Prevention Strategy published in March 2016 sets out the Government’s strategy recognising that using modern technology effectively is critical to preventing crime. Using social media is part of this.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to encourage greater cross-border co-operation between different constabularies for the purposes of tackling travelling criminals in (a) rural and (b) urban areas; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The police operational response to crime is an operational matter for chief officers. The police do have networks and tools which assist them in collaborating across police force boundaries where appropriate, which include specialist units owned jointly by a number of forces and the Regional Organised Crime Unit structure.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the 101 crime service; what procedures are in place to ensure that lessons are learnt from any shortcomings in that service; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The 101 non-emergency contact number is led by the police. The annual crime survey for England and Wales shows that awareness of the number has increased steadily since its introduction in 2011.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many seizures of illegal arms entering the UK there have been in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer given to the Rt. Hon. Member for Leicester East on 13 January 2016 to PQ UIN 21686.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of police forces which do not follow Government guidance on the operation of fixed and mobile speed cameras.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Home Office does not hold any information on police compliance with Department for Transport issued guidance on the operation of fixed and mobile speed cameras. The deployment of speed cameras is an operational matter for the police.