Asked by: Kanishka Narayan (Labour - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce knife crime; and what recent discussions she has had with South Wales Police on community-based interventions (a) Barry and (b) the wider Vale of Glamorgan.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Halving knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government’s mission to make our communities safe. We are taking a range of steps to realise this ambition.
We recently announced “Ronan’s Law”, a range of measures which will include stricter rules for online sellers of knives; increased penalties for illegal sales of knives; and consultation later this year on a registration scheme for online sellers of knives. We have also implemented the ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes and created a new Young Futures programme, which will establish Prevention Partnerships across England and Wales, bringing partners together to intervene earlier to stop young people being drawn into crime.
On Monday 24 February, I met with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip, Jane Hutt MS CBE (MS for Vale of Glamorgan). At the meeting I set out our ambitions to keep communities safe and to take a preventative approach to tackling knife crime. On Monday 10 March, I met with Emma Wools, along with the other PCCs for Wales.
Over £1m has been made available in 24/25 to the Wales Violence Prevention Unit (VRU), for violence prevention activity in South Wales. This funding is delivering a range of interventions to divert young people from a life of crime. In addition, we are providing up to £3.4m toward the Youth Endowment Fund’s Trauma-Informed Practice Grant Round – an innovative intervention to help frontline workers recognise and respond to trauma in the young people they work with. One of the projects participating in this important evaluation is the Relationship Building Together Project, run in Bridgend.
Asked by: Kanishka Narayan (Labour - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on strengthening international cooperation to tackle organised immigration crime; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of such cooperation on communities in South Wales.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Strengthened international cooperation is essential to tackle the gangs who facilitate organised immigration crime (OIC) and this Government is providing a step change in leading the international community’s approach.
We have signed a series of landmark agreements including with Iraq, Germany, Italy as well as deepening our relationship with France, and this week the UK hosted a landmark international summit to tackle the shared threat of OIC and protect our collective border security.
We expect this to have a positive impact on tackling organised immigration crime to the benefit of the whole of the UK, including South Wales.
Asked by: Kanishka Narayan (Labour - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) identification, (b) investigation and (c) prosecution of stalking; and what engagement she has had with police forces in Wales on this issue.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Stalking is an insidious crime that can leave victims living in fear every day, and tackling it forms a key part of our mission on to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) over the next decade.
That is why the Home Office is:
- investing £13.1 million next financial year (25/26) to set up a new National Policing Centre for VAWG and Public Protection which will drive consistency in the police response to these crimes;
- introducing provisions for new multi-agency statutory guidance on stalking which will set a robust framework for how agencies such as the police, local authorities and health should work together, including statutory guidance for the police on when they should release identifying information about stalking perpetrators to victims;
- conducting a review of stalking legislation to determine whether the law should be changed and strengthened to take tougher action against perpetrators, and better protect victims; and
- the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are updating their joint protocol on the handling of stalking offences, so police and prosecutors are better equipped to recognise and respond to stalking. The CPS will also shortly launch a revised training module on stalking to support prosecutors.
Home Office officials engage regularly with the police and Welsh Government on this issue to understand how measures to improve identification, investigation and prosecution of stalking will apply to Wales.
In addition, we have established a VAWG Strategy Advisory Board which is feeding directly into the development of the new VAWG Strategy and has representatives from Wales, including the Independent Adviser on VAWG for Wales.
Asked by: Kanishka Narayan (Labour - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle spiking incidents; and what support is being made available to local authorities and hospitality venues to improve prevention and victim support.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Spiking is an appalling crime that undermines the people's right to feel safe when they are simply enjoying a night out.
The Government is currently delivering a range of measures to tackle this vile practice, specifically targeted at raising awareness, identifying perpetrators, and gathering evidence. They include:
The Home Office works closely with the hospitality and third sectors, as well as law enforcement to ensure that we are delivering measures on spiking which make it more difficult to carry out in the first place, that venues and the emergency services are proving the best possible response, and that victims are listened to and feel supported.
A wide range of spiking training, resources, support and advice options are available across a number of organisations, many of whom are referenced on the Government's spiking web pages or within our training package.
Asked by: Kanishka Narayan (Labour - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle violence against women and girls; and what support is being provided to local police forces and frontline services in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We have already announced a series of measures designed to strengthen the police response to violence against women and girls (VAWG), protect victims and hold perpetrators to account across England and Wales. This includes:
The Home Office also continues to fund a range of organisations providing vital frontline support to victims of VAWG.
Asked by: Kanishka Narayan (Labour - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of net migration; and what steps she is taking to reduce these.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Under the previous government, between 2019 and 2023, net migration more than quadrupled, driven by a big increase in overseas recruitment.
This Government has set out a new approach to end the over reliance on international recruitment and boost economic growth by linking the UK’s immigration, labour market, and skills systems and by training up our domestic workforce.
We have also commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee to review key sectors, and our long-term plan will see departments working together across government, partnering with agencies and experts, to build our skills base and reduce our reliance on migration.
Building on the Prime Minister’s speech on migration on 28 November 2024 - the Government will publish a White Paper later this year setting out measures to reduce net migration and link the points-based system with requirements for training in the UK.