Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2023 on the (a) workload of and (b) resources available to police forces.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has undertaken an assessment of the potential impacts of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2023, which will ban nitrous oxide, on the police, courts and prison systems.
The impact assessment is published at The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2023 - Impact Assessment
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2023 on (a) court caseloads and (b) the prison estate.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has undertaken an assessment of the potential impacts of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2023, which will ban nitrous oxide, on the police, courts and prison systems.
The impact assessment is published at The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2023 - Impact Assessment
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to provide counselling and bereavement support to people at Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Published Home Office Detention Services Order 08/2014 Deaths in detention provides guidance as to the actions that Home Office and contracted supplier staff must take in the event of a death in detention.
The Home Office publish annual data on deaths in detention as part of the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release. The annual data for 2017 to 2021 are included in table Det_05b in the Detention summary tables.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department publishes information on the number of deaths in immigration detention.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Published Home Office Detention Services Order 08/2014 Deaths in detention provides guidance as to the actions that Home Office and contracted supplier staff must take in the event of a death in detention.
The Home Office publish annual data on deaths in detention as part of the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release. The annual data for 2017 to 2021 are included in table Det_05b in the Detention summary tables.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department takes to ensure prompt, thorough and transparent investigations when people die at immigration removal centres.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Published Home Office Detention Services Order 08/2014 Deaths in detention provides guidance as to the actions that Home Office and contracted supplier staff must take in the event of a death in detention.
The Home Office publish annual data on deaths in detention as part of the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release. The annual data for 2017 to 2021 are included in table Det_05b in the Detention summary tables.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether police forces have any contracts with Elbit Systems for (a) the provision of intelligence and (b) wider intelligence services.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office does not hold information on commercial arrangements by Police Forces.
Enquiries indicate that there is no force expenditure for Elbit Systems. I caveat these findings given the covert and sensitive nature of the possible services or products by this supplier
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will commit to hold an inquiry or research into any deaths of (a) unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the care of local authorities and (b) young adult care-leavers who were formerly unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office and its providers have robust processes in place to support those within the accommodation we provide.
As with the general population deaths can occur within Asylum Support accommodation, and our thoughts are with the families of those who pass away. In most cases these are as a result of existing and medical conditions or natural causes.
The Home Office does not routinely hold public enquiries into suicides that occur whilst someone is in receipt of asylum support. The Police and local coroner will investigate deaths in accordance with established processes and the Home Office will assist them to do so.
The Home Office supports the work of safeguarding boards and coroner services and complies with all enquiries and investigations they conduct.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will commission an independent inquiry into any deaths by suicide of (a) asylum-seekers living in Home Office-provided accommodation and (b) unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young adult care-leavers in the care of local authorities.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office and its providers have robust processes in place to support those within the accommodation we provide.
As with the general population deaths can occur within Asylum Support accommodation, and our thoughts are with the families of those who pass away. In most cases these are as a result of existing and medical conditions or natural causes.
The Home Office does not routinely hold public enquiries into suicides that occur whilst someone is in receipt of asylum support. The Police and local coroner will investigate deaths in accordance with established processes and the Home Office will assist them to do so.
The Home Office supports the work of safeguarding boards and coroner services and complies with all enquiries and investigations they conduct.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the viability of bringing forward a public sexual harassment bill.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
This Government is committed to taking action to address this issue, that is why in March we announced we will launch a public consultation by the summer recess on whether there should be a new offence of public sexual harassment.
We are also taking several non-legislative actions to address this issue. In September 2021 we launched the pilot of the new StreetSafe tool, which allows people to show on a map places where they have felt unsafe, enabling the police to take action to improve safety. More than 15,000 reports have been submitted to date.
Last December, the College of Policing published new guidance for police showing what they can do when they receive a report of public sexual harassment, including the criminal offences available and other protective tools which can be used. Furthermore, the Home Office launched the ‘Enough’ communications campaign in March, which challenges public attitudes and tolerance towards crimes such as public sexual harassment and aims to ensure victims know how and where to report it.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on a potential review of Neighbourhood Watch.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government welcomes the aims of the Neighbourhood Watch Network through its 5-year strategy: a) to be the authoritative voice on community-based crime prevention; b) to become the most popular gateway for citizens to engage in their locality on crime prevention; and c) to become a recognised contributor to community health and wellbeing.
This department has supported Neighbourhood Watch for over 20 years and provides grant funding annually. As part of this grant process, we maintain regular engagement with Neighbourhood Watch and relevant stakeholders to review the aims of the grant and its delivery.