Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle domestic abuse.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government is committed to tackling domestic abuse in all its forms as part of our unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. We have already announced a series of bold measures designed to strengthen the police response to domestic abuse, protect victims and hold perpetrators to account.
In February, under a new approach named 'Raneem's Law', the first domestic abuse specialists were embedded in 999 control rooms in five police forces to advise on risk assessments, work with officers on the ground and ensure that victims are referred to appropriate support services swiftly.
To further strengthen protections for victims, in November 2024 we launched new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) in selected police forces and courts - which is a huge step towards a new national approach. On 5 March, we expanded the use of DAPOs to Cleveland and we plan to onboard North Wales in the coming months - offering access to these new orders to a greater number of victims. The new DAPO brings together the strongest element of the existing protective order regime into a single comprehensive, flexible order.
On 28 November 2024, the Government announced a funding increase of £30 million, meaning a total investment of £160 million in the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant in 2025-26. This will enable local authorities to invest in essential support in frontline safe accommodation services.
We are determined to deliver a cross-Government transformative approach to halving violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published this year.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with representatives of the mobile phone industry on (a) using technology to prevent stolen phones from being re-used and (b) the adequacy of security on banking phone apps.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London and leading tech companies to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves.
As a result of the summit, representatives from policing and tech agreed to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the organised criminal networks driving this problem and to instigate new work to tackle the problem.
To aid police investigations and recovery of stolen goods, our Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property which has been electronically geolocation tracked to those premises and it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. We are also committed to strengthening neighbourhood policing and through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, there will be thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales provides national estimates of the number of victims of mobile phone theft in England and Wales; this data is not broken down to sub-national geographies.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce phone theft in (a) east London and (b) Ilford South constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London and leading tech companies to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves.
As a result of the summit, representatives from policing and tech agreed to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the organised criminal networks driving this problem and to instigate new work to tackle the problem.
To aid police investigations and recovery of stolen goods, our Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property which has been electronically geolocation tracked to those premises and it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. We are also committed to strengthening neighbourhood policing and through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, there will be thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales provides national estimates of the number of victims of mobile phone theft in England and Wales; this data is not broken down to sub-national geographies.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in (a) England, (b) London, and (c) Ilford South constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
That’s why we are delivering on our commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing, putting 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities by the end of the Parliament .
We will also equip the police to crack down on those causing havoc on our high streets and in communities. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced tougher powers to tackle repeat offending, including the new Respect Order to tackle the most persistent ASB offenders.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
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 enabling Ukrainian refugees who are living in the UK to obtain the right to remain.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme opened to applications on 4 February 2025, which enables Ukrainians in the UK under the Ukraine visa schemes to apply for a further 18 months’ temporary permission to remain in the UK.
We recognise the Ukrainian government’s desire for the future return of its citizens to Ukraine to assist in the rebuilding of the country. It is important our approach respects these wishes.
This is why the temporary sanctuary Ukraine visa Schemes do not lead to settlement in the UK. We continue to keep the Ukraine Schemes under consistent review in line with developments in the ongoing war.
There are other routes available for those who wish to settle in the UK permanently, if they meet the requirements.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help increase interagency working between (a) local authorities, (b) social services and the (c) police to help prevent crime.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the vital role that interagency working plays in helping to prevent crime. We have committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will embed partnership principles in a network of new Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships.
Prevention Partnerships will drive local multi-agency partnership working, and encourage police, local authorities and other agencies to work in partnership to reduce a young person’s likelihood of becoming involved in crime. This will include effective information sharing between agencies and improved consistency in joined up-working.
Driving down drug-related crime is another key prevention strand of our work. We ensure join-up at a local level through over 100 Combating Drugs Partnerships, which are multi-agency forums that bring together a range of partners at the local level including local authorities, health and police to address drug use and harms.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the average time taken for visa applications to be processed for (a) adults and (b) children.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Visa processing times are published on the UKVI website at Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
UKVI are currently processing applications on the overwhelming majority of its visa routes within their published customer service standards.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to designate misogyny as a hate crime.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government and we have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
The Government is carefully considering how best to tackle hate crime. We will set out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to provide support to victims of sexual and domestic violence.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government has set out an ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade and will treat it as the national emergency that it is. We will deliver a cross-government, transformative approach, underpinned by a new VAWG Strategy published later this year.
The Government has made several commitments to transform the criminal justice response to sexual offences. This includes embedding domestic abuse specialists into 999 control rooms as part of Raneem’s Law, rolling out Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, introducing free, independent legal advice for victims of adult rape and fast-tracking rape cases. The Ministry of Justice funds the 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, providing free, confidential emotional support for all victims of rape and sexual abuse aged 16 and over in England and Wales.
We also understand the importance of specialist and ‘by and for’ services in providing support to victims of VAWG, including domestic abuse. The Home Office have already confirmed a number of grants for organisations delivering vital frontline support to victims.
On 28th November 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced a funding increase of £30 million, meaning a total investment of £160 million in the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant in 2025/26. This will enable local authorities to invest in essential support for victims in safe accommodation.