Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions police have been required to be present at the picketing of defence factories in the last twelve months; and what the cost was to the public purse.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The management of demonstrations is an operational matter for the police and this data is not held centrally.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has for police officer recruitment in Suffolk; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government has committed to increasing the number of police officers by 20,000 over the next three years. Up to 6,000 additional officers will be recruited in the first wave and will be shared among the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. Suffolk has a recruitment target for the first year of 54.
Targets for all forces were announced on 9 October 2019: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-office-announces-first-wave-of-20000-police-officer-uplift
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the number of incidents of theft from commercial vehicles in England.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Home Office’s Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) estimates thefts from vehicles amongst business premises included in the survey each year. However, it is not possible to identify the type of vehicles involved and figures cannot be produced for Suffolk as the sample is not designed to yield sub-national estimates.
Latest headline figures from the CVS can be found here
The Home Secretary regularly meets with his Cabinet colleagues to discuss areas of mutual interest.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of theft from commercial vehicles were reported in (a) Suffolk and (b) England in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Home Office’s Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) estimates thefts from vehicles amongst business premises included in the survey each year. However, it is not possible to identify the type of vehicles involved and figures cannot be produced for Suffolk as the sample is not designed to yield sub-national estimates.
Latest headline figures from the CVS can be found here
The Home Secretary regularly meets with his Cabinet colleagues to discuss areas of mutual interest.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of incidents of theft from (a) commercial vans and (b) commercial HGVs in England in each of the last three years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Home Office’s Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) estimates thefts from vehicles amongst business premises included in the survey each year. However, it is not possible to identify the type of vehicles involved and figures cannot be produced for Suffolk as the sample is not designed to yield sub-national estimates.
Latest headline figures from the CVS can be found here
The Home Secretary regularly meets with his Cabinet colleagues to discuss areas of mutual interest.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle hare coursing.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The police have a range of powers to tackle hare coursing through the game acts and the Hunting Act 2004. My officials have engaged with affected police forces on the issue of hare coursing. However, decisions on how the available powers are used are operational matters for the police.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the cost of policing rural areas compared to urban areas.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office has not made an assessment of these relative costs. It is a matter for Chief Constables to determine the most effective policing model for their police force area, taking into account local conditions and priorities.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is making to encourage churches to install alarm equipment to deter lead theft; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We recognise the cost and disruption that arises from these crimes and we would therefore support churches in taking all reasonable precautions to prevent them.
While data published by the Office for National Statistics on 6 December 2017 shows that police recorded metal theft has fallen from nearly 63,000 in 2012/13 to under 13,000 in 2016/17, we will continue to work with the police and others through the police-led National Metal Theft Working Group, which includes representatives from the heritage sector, to see what more can be done to prevent all types of metal theft.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of lead theft from churches were reported in (a) Suffolk and (b) England in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes police recorded crime data on metal theft annually within their property crime tables. The latest figures, for the year ending March 2017, can be accessed here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtables
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve coastal and marine policing in the East of England.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
This government recognises the importance of protecting our shores, which consist of over 11,000 miles of mainland coastline. Border Force is focused on coordinating resources and the timely sharing of intelligence to deliver the right level of security. This work means that the UK has a layered approach to coastal defence, which includes on-shore resources and intelligence and surveillance capabilities. It also includes an integrated command structure, working with other government departments and near-Europe partners.
Additionally Border Force and operational partners are currently conducting intelligence-led activity on a number of fronts. Building an effective intelligence picture and understanding is essential to combat both opportunistic individuals and Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) who would seek to circumvent UK border controls. Border Force has established a Maritime Information Bureau, attached to the National Maritime Information Centre to coordinate all maritime intelligence flows respectively and to inform multi-agency operational responses aimed at securing the UK border. This is supported by public facing intelligence work under the banner of Project Kraken. Kraken has helped raise awareness in local communities to the threats within maritime draw stakeholders together via an engagement strategy, and develop a more effective methodology for intelligence sharing; ensuring assets and resource can be deployed to deliver greatest effect.
Finally, Border Force has purchased new capability, in the form of coastal patrol vessels (CPV). These new boats complement the work being done by Border Force’s cutter fleet and are being introduced in a phased approach over two years. The first was deployed in October last year and there will be more in service by the end of April 2017. They are smaller than the cutters and far more nimble and responsive. The CPVs’ unique capabilities, speed and size, will allow them to provide an enhanced level of responsiveness in cross-Channel, Channel Islands and Estuarine areas; releasing the cutters to complete longer-range operations around the coast. The purchase of this additional capability forms part of Border Force’s long term strategic planning which will enable it to support operations in the maritime sector. They will help Border Force to respond to a range of criminal activity both now and in the future.