Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department makes an assessment of the socio-economic background of an area when determining the location of asylum accommodation.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a set of asylum accommodation plans which set out how much Dispersal Accommodation is appropriate for each local authority. The Home office has developed an indexing tool which has helped to ensure that this is done in an evidence-based manner, factoring in a range of socio-economic factors, for example homelessness, pressures on GPs and hate crime. When procuring accommodation in line with those plans, our accommodation providers consult with local authorities who have the opportunity to set out any concerns and to signpost our accommodation providers to possible alternative properties.
The Home Office will continue to review the appropriateness of sites for use as asylum accommodation and remains committed to regularly engaging with local authorities and key stakeholders as part of this process.
Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to tackle the antisocial use of off-road vehicles.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission to take back our streets.
The police are able to pursue off road bikers but any decision on whether to undertake a pursuit is an operational one, and should take account of the risk factors and proportionality in each situation. The Home Office works closely with the NPCC to understand how the safety of police pursuits can be improved.
The Government will give police the powers they need to take illegal, dangerous and antisocial bikes off the streets for good, so that they will be able to quickly destroy the bikes that they seize from offenders. We will set out more information in due course.
Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the regulations governing the powers of the police to (a) pursue and (b) detain people using off-road bikes illegally.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission to take back our streets.
The police are able to pursue off road bikers but any decision on whether to undertake a pursuit is an operational one, and should take account of the risk factors and proportionality in each situation. The Home Office works closely with the NPCC to understand how the safety of police pursuits can be improved.
The Government will give police the powers they need to take illegal, dangerous and antisocial bikes off the streets for good, so that they will be able to quickly destroy the bikes that they seize from offenders. We will set out more information in due course.