Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money was allocated to the Places of Worship: protective security funding scheme in each of the years since it was announced; how much money was spent in each of the years since it was announced; how many applications for funding were received in each of those years; and how many of those applications were successful in full or in part.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme is available in England and Wales. For the 2021/2022 round, £3.5 million was announced. Applications closed on 16th July, and applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application in due course.
For the first three years of the scheme £2.4 million was announced over three years; with £800,000 available each year.
For the 2016/2017 round we received 286 eligible applications for funding, of which 53 were successful, and we allocated £435,466.
For the 2017/2018 round we received 57 eligible applications for funding, of which 36 were successful, and we allocated £440,203.
For the 2018/2019 round we received 88 eligible applications for funding, of which 45 were successful, and we allocated £806,281.
For the 2019/2020 round, £1.6 million was announced. We received 376 eligible applications, of which 49 were successful, and we allocated £1,718,763.
For the 2020/2021 round, £3.2 million was announced. We received 243 eligible applications, of which 58 were successful, and we allocated £1,704,237.
All successful applicants to the scheme are deemed as successful in full.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 2 June (HL4611), whether they will now answer the question put, namely what assessment they have made of the average quantity of personal protective equipment required on a daily basis by the police service; and if they have not made such an assessment, why not.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government recognises the importance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for all of those on the frontline, including police.
The Home Secretary and Minister for Policing have regular conversations with police forces about a range of matters including supply of PPE, ensuring a sufficient daily supply is available. The National Police Co-ordination Centre is co-ordinating police PPE procurement and distribution across the whole country and confirm that police currently have a good supply of PPE.
The amount of PPE in stock and used by each force is not held centrally. That is an operational matter for forces.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the average quantity of personal protective equipment required on a daily basis by the police service; and if they have not made such an assessment, why not.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government is working closely with its partners including the emergency services on a range of issues including the availability of suitable PPE. The National Police Chiefs’ Council have confirmed that police currently have a good supply of PPE and they are working to oversee its distribution to forces. We will continue to work with them to ensure this continues.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Prevent Oversight Board, as referenced in the statutory guidance published in accordance with the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, still exists; and if so, (1) what is its current membership, and (2) when it last met.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Prevent Oversight Board is currently in existence. The Board membership includes Ministerial and Director-level representatives and their equivalents across the following Whitehall departments:
Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defence, Department for Education, Department of Health and Social Care, Counter Terrorism Police Headquarters (CTPHQ), Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), Welsh Government, Scottish Government, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Security Services, Cabinet Office, and Charity Commission.
Departments and agencies which are not listed as standing members can be invited as required.
The Board last convened in November 2018.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why no public statement was made at the time of, or shortly after, the seizure of three tonnes of explosive materials allegedly linked to Hezbollah terrorists in north London at the end of September 2015; and when Ministers and elected officials were briefed on those seizures.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
It is the policy of successive governments not to comment on Police operational or intelligence matters.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Manzoor on 18 October (HL Deb, col 564), when they will publish the equality impact assessment for the introduction of charges by UK Visas and Immigration for those making inquiries from abroad.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office undertook a Policy Equality Assessment in May 2017 as part of the Home Office procurement for UKVI Contact Centre services and will publish the findings in December 2018.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding in the report by the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, A re-inspection of Border Force's identification and treatment of Potential Victims of Modern Slavery published on 28 March, that one Roving Officer does not provide effective safeguarding when there are high levels of passengers.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government response to the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, A re-inspection of Border Force’s identification and treatment of potential Victims of Modern Slavery, was published on 28th March 2018. Roving Officers are one of the tools used for safeguarding purposes at ports, alongside monitoring officers, behavioural detection training and the targeted use of intelligence.
Whilst, under current Border Force policy instructions, only one Roving Officer is required for terminals with six to 10 e-Passport gates, additional Roving Officers will be deployed based on considerations such as threat level, risk assessment of flights and the number of arrivals. Border Force has committed to review Roving Officer policy this summer. This review will consider the sufficiency of these safeguarding arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of resources available to the Border Force to combat modern slavery.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We have always been clear that Border Force has the resources it needs to secure the border
Border Security is achieved through a multi- layered system of capabilities, including: people, technology, intelligence, and joint working. All frontline officers undertake training in keeping children safe, Section 55 safeguarding responsibilities, trafficking indicators, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), FGM and Modern Slavery.
Border Force also has a network of specially trained Safeguarding and Modern Slavery officers who receive specialist training. All Border Force training has recently been reviewed and updated to make it more victim focussed, taking into account the recommendations made by the ICIB Trafficking Inspection and Independent Anti Slavery Commissioner.
BF internal performance data shows a significant increase in identification of potential victims of Modern Slavery during this current year. This is attributable to training and raised awareness levels due to periods of intensification with other law enforcement partners to target exploitation.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of an increased use of technology at the border on safeguarding people from modern slavery.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Border Force has a role in identifying victims and perpetrators of modern slavery as they arrive in the UK. At the primary checkpoint, Border Force Officers have the unique advantage of being the first point of contact with UK authorities for many vulnerable children and adults as well as the criminals who traffic them.
New technological capabilities such as eGates offer a high standard of identification verification.
Border Force has developed an additional layer of security, by deploying roving officers in front of the eGates observing and interacting with passengers. At smaller ports an extra message appears when a child uses the gate and halts the transaction until the monitoring Border Force Officer is satisfied there are no safeguarding concerns.
Where there are concerns, including safeguarding, passengers are directed to a manual control for further questioning.
Furthermore, all freight vehicles and a percentage of tourist vehicles entering the UK through the juxtaposed controls are screened for people being smuggled into the UK using a range of techniques. This includes using carbon dioxide detectors and motion sensors as well as sniffer dogs to detect clandestines who are potentially victims of trafficking. Border Force have upgraded the heartbeat monitors , which are now called motion detectors (Clantect) as these detect more than just heartbeats.
Whilst not uniquely a result of technology, BF internal performance data shows a significant increase in identification of potential victims of Modern Slavery during this current year
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many cloud services contracts that were previously delivered by British cloud services providers for the Home Office are now delivered by multinational cloud service providers; what is the value of those contracts; and what are the names of the previous providers.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
It is difficult to accurately compare cloud service contracts previously held with British Companies to the hosting arrangements the Home Office currently has with multi-national cloud companies, as the services in question are not precisely like-for-like. At present, the Home Office has a number of cloud services contracts with different providers ranging from multi-nationals to British owned companies such as UK Cloud.
The Home Office process for selecting appropriate cloud service providers is closely aligned to the wider Government Cloud Strategy and a rigorous competitive commercial process is followed when awarding such contracts, layered with a rigorous technical decision process on aligning cloud service providers to various programmes and projects.