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Written Question
Visas: Overseas Students
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) student and (b) student dependent visa applications were received by his Department in the first two weeks of January (i) 2023 and (ii) 2024.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Our published data on student and student dependent visa applications up to September 2023 can be found in the available migration statistics on GOV.UK: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables#entry-clearance-visas-granted-outside-the-uk

Figures up to 31 December 2023 will be published in the next release. January 2024 figures will be published in due course.


Written Question
Police: Video Recordings
Friday 23rd June 2023

Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether there are regulatory (a) provisions and (b) other measures in place on public filming of police officers during the performance of their duties which is intended to harass or intimidate those officers.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Policing by its very nature can be a demanding job. The wellbeing of our police is a priority for this Government and it is vital that we protect our officers from any form of harassment, abuse or assault as they work bravely to protect our communities. We will continue to work closely with policing partners and help Chief Constables in their duty to support their workforce effectively.

There are no provisions in place which prohibit an individual from taking photographs or filming in public places. This extends to the filming of police officers and buildings unless the behaviour of the person filming represents a genuine security risk or risk to the personal information of staff to be misused.

Whilst individuals are not prohibited from filming in public places, behaviour which intentionally causes harassment, alarm or distress is prohibited under the Public Order Act 1986. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 also makes it a criminal offence to pursue a course of conduct amounting to harassment. Whether these offences apply to individual cases will depend on the circumstances.

The NPCC have released national guidance on persons recording police in public spaces. This also sets out the legislation that does apply when the officers suspect terrorism: NPCC Guidance.

The College of Policing have also published guidance as part of their Media Relations APP and the Public Order APP.


Written Question
Police: Video Recordings
Friday 23rd June 2023

Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has held discussions with law enforcement agencies on members of the public filming (a) police officers and (b) police station car parks.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Policing by its very nature can be a demanding job. The wellbeing of our police is a priority for this Government and it is vital that we protect our officers from any form of harassment, abuse or assault as they work bravely to protect our communities. We will continue to work closely with policing partners and help Chief Constables in their duty to support their workforce effectively.

There are no provisions in place which prohibit an individual from taking photographs or filming in public places. This extends to the filming of police officers and buildings unless the behaviour of the person filming represents a genuine security risk or risk to the personal information of staff to be misused.

Whilst individuals are not prohibited from filming in public places, behaviour which intentionally causes harassment, alarm or distress is prohibited under the Public Order Act 1986. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 also makes it a criminal offence to pursue a course of conduct amounting to harassment. Whether these offences apply to individual cases will depend on the circumstances.

The NPCC have released national guidance on persons recording police in public spaces. This also sets out the legislation that does apply when the officers suspect terrorism: NPCC Guidance.

The College of Policing have also published guidance as part of their Media Relations APP and the Public Order APP.


Written Question
Knives: Crime
Tuesday 18th January 2022

Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce knife crime.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

Tackling knife crime is a priority and the Government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.

We are supporting the police every step of the way in this effort. We have given them more powers and resources to go after criminals and take knives and other dangerous weapons off our streets, including through the recruitment of 20,000 additional officers and increasing police funding.

The Government has made £130.5m available this year to tackle serious violence, including murder and knife crime. This includes: £35.5m for Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) which bring together local partners to deliver a range of early intervention and prevention programmes and tackle the drivers of violence in the 18 areas worst affected by serious violence; £30m to support the police to take targeted action in parts of England and Wales most affected by serious violence through the Grip programme, which uses data to identify violence hotspots and target operational activity in those areas; and £20m for new early intervention programmes that will help stop young people from being drawn into violence, including cognitive behavioural therapy, family therapy, as well as specialist support in crisis moments such as when a person is admitted to A&E with a knife injury.

We have also invested £200m over 10 years for the Youth Endowment Fund, which is funding projects to support children and young people at risk of violence and exploitation and to steer them away from crime.

We acknowledge there is more to do which is why we are bringing forward the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill so the law-abiding majority can be confident they are safe. The Bill includes: Serious Violence Reduction Orders, which will give the police the power to stop and search adults already convicted of knife or offensive weapons offences; the Serious Violence Duty, which will require authorities and bodies delivering public services to collaborate to prevent and reduce serious violence in their areas; and offensive weapons homicide reviews which will be introduced to improve the national and local understanding of causes, patterns, victims and perpetrators of violence and homicide.

We have also prohibited certain particularly dangerous types of knife through the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 and have introduced the offence of possessing specified offensive weapons in private. The Act also introduced Knife Crime Prevention Orders which will provide the police with a vital means to steer those most at risk away from serious violence. On 5 July 2021 we introduced a pilot for KCPOs across the Metropolitan Police area.


Written Question
Offences against Children: Internet
Friday 14th January 2022

Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to tackle online child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The Government is firmly committed to tackling this horrific crime and keeping our children safe online here in the UK and working with partners around the world to address this complex and evolving threat.

The UK’s Online Safety Bill will, for the first time, place a duty on tech companies to keep their users safe, with a greater responsibility to remove and limit the spread of illegal content. We are also engaging with tech companies through our international partners to keep children safe from online sexual abuse, securing agreement to a G7 action plan which includes driving greater endorsement of the Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and to take meaningful action to report against progress.

We are also continuing to work with law enforcement partners to improve technologies and capabilities to identify offending and bringing offenders to justice. This includes significant investment into the transformation of the Child Abuse Image Database programme, and the National Crime Agency resulting in an estimated 800 arrests or voluntary attendances, and an estimated 1,000 children safeguarded or protected every month.

We are determined to deliver on the commitments to tackling this horrific complex crime and we will continue to work with partners to achieve our goals as set out in the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy published in January 2021.


Written Question
Greater Manchester Police
Wednesday 31st March 2021

Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support the improvement of Greater Manchester Police.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

The Home Office, alongside its policing partners, continues to provide Greater Manchester Police with the support it requires through HMICFRS’s Policing Performance Oversight Group. Ministers are committed to supporting the force’s improvement and are paying close attention to its progress.

Greater Manchester Police’s funding will increase by up to £35.1m in 2021/22.

As at December 2020, the force has also recruited 266 additional officers through our Police Uplift Programme, with a further allocation of 325 officers to be recruited by March 2022. In addition, there is a year 2 uplift allocation of 16 officers to the force to support growth in Regional Organised Crime Units.


Written Question
Criminal Investigation
Wednesday 31st March 2021

Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to take steps to reform the use of Release Under Investigation.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

The Government is aware of the issues around the process of Released Under Investigation (RUI) and the impact this can have on both suspects and victims. Following a public consultation on pre-charge bail, ending in May 2020, the Government is now seeking to introduce significant reforms through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

While RUI is not a process set out in legislation, the reforms in the Bill will help limit its usage by creating a pre-charge bail system that works better for the police, victims and suspects. This includes the removal of the perceived presumption against pre-charge bail and the creation of a new duty to seek the views of alleged victims before releasing suspects on pre-charge bail, where it is necessary and proportionate to do so.

Alongside this change, the Government has established a new power for the College of Policing in the Bill to issue national statutory guidance on pre-charge bail which will help address the use of Released Under Investigation. We will also be monitoring forces closely with an enhanced data collection on use pre-charge bail and RUI in the future.