Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending to county councils the provisions of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 on issuing closure notices in cases of illegal trading of tobacco and vaping products on the high street.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The closure power, under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, enables police or local councils - including county councils where there is no district council - to close premises quickly which are being used to commit nuisance or disorder.
The closure power, along with all the powers in the 2014 Act, is deliberately local in nature, and it is for local agencies to determine whether its use is appropriate and meets the legal test in the specific circumstances.
The global supply of illicit tobacco is significant and the high profit margins continue to attract organised criminal networks. HMRC are fully aware of this threat and take robust, coordinated action in response. Working in close partnership across government, we target production at its source, intercept illicit products at the border and in retail environments, and pursue and prosecute those involved in the illicit tobacco trade.
Stubbing out the problem: A new strategy to tackle illicit tobacco - GOV.UK sets out how HMRC, Border Force and partner agencies tackle illicit tobacco. It seeks to target loopholes at all stages of the supply chain, to keep ahead of the criminals. The strategy:
National Trading Standards plays a key part in tackling illicit tobacco at a local level. It provides both a visible and tangible deterrent that organised criminality and anti-social behaviour surrounding the supply of illicit tobacco will not be tolerated. HMRC values the close working partnership it has with National Trading Standards through Operation CeCe and is committed to building on its success by increasing the level of funding available to Trading Standards. This means that we can have an even greater impact in tackling the illicit tobacco trade, undertaking more visits, creating more disruption, detecting and seizing more illicit product, tackling underage sales and reducing community harm.
HMRC is progressing preparations for the 1 October 2026 introduction of Vaping Products Duty with a strong focus on compliance readiness and illicit market risk.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact that changes to shotgun licensing will have on the time taken to process shotgun licence renewals in South Suffolk.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February 2025, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. We intend to publish this consultation shortly.
We will carefully consider all of the views put forward during the consultation, including the potential impact on those who live and work in rural communities, before taking any decisions on whether changes are necessary in the interests of public safety. We will also provide an impact assessment in relation to any changes that we bring forward after the consultation, in the normal way.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of merging (i) shotgun and (ii) rifle licensing systems will have on constituents in South Suffolk.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February 2025, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. We intend to publish this consultation shortly.
We will carefully consider all of the views put forward during the consultation, including the potential impact on those who live and work in rural communities, before taking any decisions on whether changes are necessary in the interests of public safety. We will also provide an impact assessment in relation to any changes that we bring forward after the consultation, in the normal way.
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 plans to take to help increase conviction rates for violence against women in rural areas.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We have set out an unprecedented mission to halve the level of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. That means working across Government to tackle threats to women's safety in all areas of their lives and across the country, including in rural areas. We will set out concrete measures to halving VAWG in a new cross-Government VAWG strategy, which we are aiming to publish before summer recess. We are working closely with the Ministry of Justice and other partners as part of improving the criminal justice response to VAWG.
Our new National Policing Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection, in which we are investing £13.1 million, will seek to drive national coordination and improvement in forces response to VAWG crimes. This includes delivering our manifesto commitment for strengthened specialist training for officers across all areas of the country to ensure that they offer consistent protection for victims and relentlessly pursue perpetrators.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers there have been Suffolk in each financial year since 2019.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales on a bi-annual basis in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
The latest information at the link above covers the situation as at 30 September 2024. Information on the number of police officers, broken down by police force area, at the end of each financial year (31 March) from 2007 to 2024 can be found in the ‘Police Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/669a910da3c2a28abb50d34b/open-data-table-police-workforce-240724.ods
Data on the police workforce as at 31 March 2025 is due to be published in Summer 2025.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of police officers in Suffolk in each financial year this Parliament.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales on a bi-annual basis in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
The latest information at the link above covers the situation as at 30 September 2024. Information on the number of police officers, broken down by police force area, at the end of each financial year (31 March) from 2007 to 2024 can be found in the ‘Police Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/669a910da3c2a28abb50d34b/open-data-table-police-workforce-240724.ods
Data on the police workforce as at 31 March 2025 is due to be published in Summer 2025.
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 (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.