Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department holds on the number of young people in Greater Manchester deemed at risk of Child Criminal Exploitation who have criminal offences recorded against them.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold specific data on the number of young people in Greater Manchester deemed at risk of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) who have criminal offences recorded against them. However, tackling CCE is a priority for this Government which is why we are providing funding to support Greater Manchester Police to help tackle county lines and CCE.
Through our Drug Strategy, we are providing a targeted investment of up to £145m over three years to bolster our County Lines Programme. This includes funding a dedicated county lines taskforce in Greater Manchester Police, as well as funding Catch22 to provide a specialist support and rescue service for under 25’s and their families in Greater Manchester to help them safely reduce and exit their involvement from county lines including child criminal exploitation.
We are also driving targeted action to respond to exploitation through the Home Office-funded Prevention Programme, delivered by The Children’s Society with funding of £1.37m for delivery between 2023-25. Through the programme, a dedicated Northwest Prevention Officer works to support a range of partners to improve the response to multiple forms of exploitation including CCE in the Northwest region.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of hotel use for asylum seekers on community cohesion in Oldham; and when he plans to end the use of temporary accommodation for asylum seekers.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Asylum hotels were only ever a temporary measure, in response to an unprecedented spike in small boat arrivals and the statutory requirement to accommodate asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. The Government has always been clear that they are an inappropriate form of accommodation and that we must stop using them as soon as possible.
Wherever hotels are used, the Home Office works in partnership with local authorities and other statutory partners, including through multi-agency forum (MAF) meetings. These consider, amongst other things, community cohesion issues.
We will have closed 100 hotels by the end of March. We continue to work with our providers on closing further hotels across the estate and will write to local authorities and MPs when a decision to close a site has been made.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) child criminal exploitation and (b) gang activity on police resources in Oldham.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold specific information on the potential impact of child criminal exploitation (CCE) and gang activity on police resources in Oldham. However, tackling CCE is a priority for this Government which is why we are providing funding to support Greater Manchester Police to help tackle county lines, CCE and serious violence.
Through our Drug Strategy, we are providing a targeted investment of up to £145m over three years to bolster our County Lines Programme. This includes funding a dedicated county lines taskforce in Greater Manchester Police, as well as funding Catch22 to provide a specialist support and rescue service for under 25’s and their families in Greater Manchester to help them safely reduce and exit their involvement from county lines including child criminal exploitation.
We are also driving targeted action to respond to exploitation through the Home Office-funded Prevention Programme, delivered by The Children’s Society with a funding of £1.37 million for delivery between 2023-25. Through the programme, a dedicated Northwest Prevention Officer works to support a range of partners to improve the response to multiple forms of exploitation including CCE in the Northwest region.
To tackle the drivers of serious violence, the Home Office has also invested over £20m to develop and run the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (with funding of over £4.38m in 2023-2024).
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of trends in the level of (a) police station and (b) custody cell closures in Oldham since 2010.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not publish impact assessments relating to police office closures.
It is up to Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners to make decisions on local resourcing and estates, including police stations. They are best placed to make these decisions based on their local knowledge and experience.
Police stations are just one of the ways people can access their local police services including reporting online and by phone 24/7.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) police station and (b) custody cell closures there have been in Oldham in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not publish impact assessments relating to police office closures.
It is up to Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners to make decisions on local resourcing and estates, including police stations. They are best placed to make these decisions based on their local knowledge and experience.
Police stations are just one of the ways people can access their local police services including reporting online and by phone 24/7.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding is allocated to (a) each Greater Manchester local authority and (b) any other organisation in Manchester city region to tackle child criminal exploitation.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold information on funding allocations for tackling child criminal exploitation (CCE) for the Greater Manchester local authorities. However, we do provide national funding to some organisations in Greater Manchester to tackle county lines, CCE and serious violence.
Through our Drug Strategy, we are providing a targeted investment of up to £145m over three years to bolster our County Lines Programme. This includes funding a dedicated county lines taskforce in Greater Manchester Police, as well as funding Catch22 to provide a specialist support and rescue service for under 25’s and their families in Greater Manchester to help them safely reduce and exit their involvement from county lines.
The Home Office has provided £1.3million to fund The Children’s Society to deliver The Prevention Programme between 2023-25. Through the programme, a dedicated Northwest Prevention Officer works to support a range of partners to improve the response to multiple forms of exploitation including CCE in the North West region.
To tackle the drivers of serious violence, the Home Office has also invested over £20m to develop and run the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (with funding of over £4.38m in 2023-2024). We have also invested over £14.5m into the Grip programme (previously known as Surge) in Greater Manchester between 2019-23 for hotspot policing targeting serious violence, and a further £2.35m has been allocated for Grip in 2023-24.
Furthermore, this financial year (2023-24), the government has made available £1m to the Young Women and Girls’ Fund, with Salford City Local Authority receiving £43,000. This funds a Young Women’s Worker who delivers specialist support and interventions to vulnerable young women and girls who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, gang-related exploitation or abuse.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of trends in the level of retail crime on convenience store closures in England.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of retail crime on convenience store closures in England.
I regularly engage with the retail sector through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to keep abreast of crime experienced by the sector. The NRCSG meets quarterly and comprises of senior representatives from policing, the retail sector, and retail trade associations including the Association of Convenience Stores and British Independent Retailers Association, alongside Government departments.
All police forces in England and Wales have made a commitment, through the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Retail Crime Action Plan, to prioritise police attendance at the scene of retail crime where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. This commitment applies to all retailers, including convenience stores, and will help to drive down the level of retail crime.
The Retail Crime Action Plan was launched in October and is published here: NPCC Retail Crime Action Plan
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the dog attacks recorded by the police in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects data from police forces in England and Wales on the number of offences recorded of an “Owner or person in charge allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control in any place in England or Wales (whether or not a public place) injuring any person or assistance dog” and of an "Owner or person in charge allowing a dog to enter a non-public place and injure any person" recorded by the police in England and Wales, since 2015/16.
Data provided in the table below is from 38 territorial police forces and British Transport Police in England and Wales who have been able to supply this information.
Year | Number of Offences |
2015-16 | 12,509 |
2016-17 | 15,465 |
2017-18 | 16,507 |
2018-19 | 16,727 |
2019-20 | 16,812 |
2020-21 | 18,110 |
2021-22 | 20,117 |
2022-23 | 23,641 |
Note: excludes Devon and Cornwall, Humberside, Staffordshire and West Midlands Police Force Areas.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many attacks on shop workers have taken place in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on assaults or threats on the staff of wholesale and retail premises in England and Wales as part of the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS). The data was most recently published in May 2023 and is available at:
The CVS provides information on the proportion of premises which experienced assaults on their staff and an estimation of how frequently premises experienced these incidents. It does not provide information on the number of incidents of assaults on retail workers.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on how many submissions to the Truth Project set up by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse were made by residents in each of the Greater Manchester authorities.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Department does not hold this information. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has now completed its work. In line with the commitment made by the Inquiry, all information relating victims and survivors taking part in the Truth Project was securely destroyed when the Inquiry closed. Information about the Truth Project, including some statistics, are available on the following website: https://www.iicsa.org.uk/victims-and-survivors/truth-project