Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide a timescale for the introduction of safe access zones near abortion clinics.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Public Order Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 2 May. Implementation of the Public Order Act measures is staggered.
The Government respects the will of Parliament and is working to commence Safe Access Zones as soon as is practicably possible. We have been considering what needs to be done to ensure Safe Access Zones can be implemented as effectively as possible, with law enforcement agencies having a clear and consistent understanding around enforcement, and abortion service providers and protestors being clear as to what is expected under the new law.
The timescales for commencing the new Section 9 offence of interference with access to, or provision of, abortion services will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Disclosure and Barring Service over the time taken to process an enhanced check; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of resources available to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Answered by Sarah Dines
As the Minister for Safeguarding, I meet with the Chairman of the Disclosure and Barring Service to discuss performance.
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has a service standard to issue 80% of Enhanced checks within 14 days. Its performance remains consistently strong against this service standard as can be seen for the 2022-23 reporting year and first quarter of 2023-24 DBS dataset 1: DBS checks, the DBS Update Service, and disputes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
To summarise performance, the attainment over the 2022/23 reporting year was 78.4%, with over 3.5 million customers receiving their Enhanced DBS check results within 14 days. The average turnaround time over the past year was 10.7 days, and 80% of all enhanced Disclosures were issued by day 16 against the 14-day target.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take legislative steps to create (a) English, (b) Irish, (c) Scottish and (d) Welsh citizen status.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
British citizenship is the nationality defined in the British Nationality Act 1981, held by those with a close connection to the UK. There are no plans to change this.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of recognising (a) English, (b) Irish, (c) Scottish and (d) Welsh as distinct nationalities within nationalities and immigration legislation.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
British citizenship is the nationality defined in the British Nationality Act 1981, held by those with a close connection to the UK. There are no plans to change this.
Although we do not distinguish between nationalities within the United Kingdom, we do recognise the rich and unique contribution the Welsh, Scots Gaelic, and Irish languages make to our United Kingdom. Currently, all applicants applying for citizenship are required to have passed the Life in the UK (LitUK) test and, while the Life in the UK Handbook is only available in English, the test can also be taken in Welsh or Scots Gaelic, which are the only other languages currently specified in statute as requirements for naturalisation.
We are assessing the potential merits of including recognition of regional languages more broadly in our immigration system and will provide our conclusion in due course.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 Crown Prosecution Services 6th Edition of the Directors Guidance on Charging on delays in the criminal justice system for both victims and suspects.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As set out in the Crown Prosecution Service’s 6th Edition of the Director’s Guidance on Charging, establishing high-quality disclosure is essential to an effective Criminal Justice System, ensuring the process is fair, efficient and effective. The police play a crucial role in effective casefile preparation, including disclosure, to bring criminals to justice.
In March 2021, the CPS, NPCC and College of Policing published a joint National Case Progression Commitment which builds on work conducted by all three organisations under the National Disclosure Improvement Plan (NDIP), and under which they will jointly tackle barriers to effective case management and case progression.
This Government has given the police the resources they need to cut crime and put offenders behind bars, with an increase in total police funding by £1.1b compared to 2021/22, and over 11,000 extra officers hired as part of the Police Uplift Programme (as of 31 December 2021) to bring crime down and keep our neighbourhoods safe.
The wellbeing of police officers and staff is vitally important. It is the duty of senior leaders to ensure that officers and staff have the right support to help them carry out their important work to the standard expected by the public. Each Chief Constable has a duty to manage and support their workforce effectively, ensuring the welfare of all officers and staff. They are held to account on behalf of the public by elected police and crime commissioners.
The Home Office, Attorney General’s Office, and Ministry of Justice are working closely together, along with the National Police Chiefs Council and CPS, to tackle delays and improve timeliness at every stage of the Criminal Justice System. The Government has recently launched Criminal Justice Scorecards at a local and national level, which bring together data from across the CJS to provide a view of cross system performance. The scorecards measure progress against the key criminal justice priority areas: improving timeliness, increasing victim engagement and improving quality of justice.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Crown Prosecution Services on steps that can be taken to mitigate the potential impact of its Guidance on Charging policy on levels of workload and bureaucracy during the pre charging phase of investigations.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As set out in the Crown Prosecution Service’s 6th Edition of the Director’s Guidance on Charging, establishing high-quality disclosure is essential to an effective Criminal Justice System, ensuring the process is fair, efficient and effective. The police play a crucial role in effective casefile preparation, including disclosure, to bring criminals to justice.
In March 2021, the CPS, NPCC and College of Policing published a joint National Case Progression Commitment which builds on work conducted by all three organisations under the National Disclosure Improvement Plan (NDIP), and under which they will jointly tackle barriers to effective case management and case progression.
This Government has given the police the resources they need to cut crime and put offenders behind bars, with an increase in total police funding by £1.1b compared to 2021/22, and over 11,000 extra officers hired as part of the Police Uplift Programme (as of 31 December 2021) to bring crime down and keep our neighbourhoods safe.
The wellbeing of police officers and staff is vitally important. It is the duty of senior leaders to ensure that officers and staff have the right support to help them carry out their important work to the standard expected by the public. Each Chief Constable has a duty to manage and support their workforce effectively, ensuring the welfare of all officers and staff. They are held to account on behalf of the public by elected police and crime commissioners.
The Home Office, Attorney General’s Office, and Ministry of Justice are working closely together, along with the National Police Chiefs Council and CPS, to tackle delays and improve timeliness at every stage of the Criminal Justice System. The Government has recently launched Criminal Justice Scorecards at a local and national level, which bring together data from across the CJS to provide a view of cross system performance. The scorecards measure progress against the key criminal justice priority areas: improving timeliness, increasing victim engagement and improving quality of justice.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 Crown Prosecution Services 6th Edition of the Directors Guidance on Charging on the moral and wellbeing of Police Detectives.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As set out in the Crown Prosecution Service’s 6th Edition of the Director’s Guidance on Charging, establishing high-quality disclosure is essential to an effective Criminal Justice System, ensuring the process is fair, efficient and effective. The police play a crucial role in effective casefile preparation, including disclosure, to bring criminals to justice.
In March 2021, the CPS, NPCC and College of Policing published a joint National Case Progression Commitment which builds on work conducted by all three organisations under the National Disclosure Improvement Plan (NDIP), and under which they will jointly tackle barriers to effective case management and case progression.
This Government has given the police the resources they need to cut crime and put offenders behind bars, with an increase in total police funding by £1.1b compared to 2021/22, and over 11,000 extra officers hired as part of the Police Uplift Programme (as of 31 December 2021) to bring crime down and keep our neighbourhoods safe.
The wellbeing of police officers and staff is vitally important. It is the duty of senior leaders to ensure that officers and staff have the right support to help them carry out their important work to the standard expected by the public. Each Chief Constable has a duty to manage and support their workforce effectively, ensuring the welfare of all officers and staff. They are held to account on behalf of the public by elected police and crime commissioners.
The Home Office, Attorney General’s Office, and Ministry of Justice are working closely together, along with the National Police Chiefs Council and CPS, to tackle delays and improve timeliness at every stage of the Criminal Justice System. The Government has recently launched Criminal Justice Scorecards at a local and national level, which bring together data from across the CJS to provide a view of cross system performance. The scorecards measure progress against the key criminal justice priority areas: improving timeliness, increasing victim engagement and improving quality of justice.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has she made of the impact of the Crown Prosecution Service's 6th Edition of the Directors Guidance on Charging workloads of Police Detectives.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As set out in the Crown Prosecution Service’s 6th Edition of the Director’s Guidance on Charging, establishing high-quality disclosure is essential to an effective Criminal Justice System, ensuring the process is fair, efficient and effective. The police play a crucial role in effective casefile preparation, including disclosure, to bring criminals to justice.
In March 2021, the CPS, NPCC and College of Policing published a joint National Case Progression Commitment which builds on work conducted by all three organisations under the National Disclosure Improvement Plan (NDIP), and under which they will jointly tackle barriers to effective case management and case progression.
This Government has given the police the resources they need to cut crime and put offenders behind bars, with an increase in total police funding by £1.1b compared to 2021/22, and over 11,000 extra officers hired as part of the Police Uplift Programme (as of 31 December 2021) to bring crime down and keep our neighbourhoods safe.
The wellbeing of police officers and staff is vitally important. It is the duty of senior leaders to ensure that officers and staff have the right support to help them carry out their important work to the standard expected by the public. Each Chief Constable has a duty to manage and support their workforce effectively, ensuring the welfare of all officers and staff. They are held to account on behalf of the public by elected police and crime commissioners.
The Home Office, Attorney General’s Office, and Ministry of Justice are working closely together, along with the National Police Chiefs Council and CPS, to tackle delays and improve timeliness at every stage of the Criminal Justice System. The Government has recently launched Criminal Justice Scorecards at a local and national level, which bring together data from across the CJS to provide a view of cross system performance. The scorecards measure progress against the key criminal justice priority areas: improving timeliness, increasing victim engagement and improving quality of justice.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of animal rights charities on the potential impact on animal welfare of the proposed changes set out in the Animals in Science Regulation Unit’s Change Programme.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Animals in Science Regulation Unit public engagement framework ensures balanced representation and input. The regulator has engaged in stakeholder meetings with animal rights charities, among others, on four occasions since October 2021. Each of the four meetings were held to specifically describe and discuss the regulator’s change programme.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and (b) mobile communication companies on the use of the Emergency Services Network mast at Rhandirmwyn, Carmarthenshire for commercial 4G and 5G purposes.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
There are regular meetings between the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Home Office about the Emergency Service Network’s Extended Area Services (EAS) sites being used for the Shared Rural Network (SRN). The two departments discuss EAS site suitability, deployment and activation timelines. There has been no specific meeting in relation to sites in Rhandirmwyn.
All (Extended Area Services) sites are available for SRN in principle, where site conditions, planning legislation and a willing site provider align and where they meet the DCMS viability criteria. SRN have provisionally carried out a strategic evaluation of each proposed site. DCMS’s current approach is where site conditions allow, all 292 EAS sites are under consideration for SRN .
There are 2 EAS sites in the Rhandirmwyn area and these are both being considered for commercial connectivity via the SRN. We are currently working with the DCMS and Mobile Network Operators to facilitate sharing of the EAS sites as quickly as possible.
The SRN Programme also has regular monthly updates with the Devolved Administrations, where regular updates are given on the progress of the programme. In addition, DCMS regularly keep the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales updated on the progress of the SRN EAS program with regular stocktakes.
There have been no discussion on 5G deployment with DCMS as SRN is providing 4G services.