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Written Question
Offensive Weapons: Sales
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent the online sale of dangerous weapons.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

  • On 25 January we introduced new legislation to ban zombie-style knives and machetes. This will come in to force on 24 September 2024.
  • In the Criminal Justice Bill, legislating for more powers for police to seize knives held in private, increasing maximum sentences for sale of prohibited weapons and underage sales and a new offence of knife possession with violent intent.

Written Question
Police: Demonstrations
Wednesday 25th October 2023

Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made any specialist training available to police forces on (a) defusing tensions between motorists and protestors undertaking non-violent direct action involving the obstruction of public highways and (b) preventing the use of vehicles as weapons against such protestors.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

It is regrettable that frustrated members of the public have been seen physically confronting protesters. While the government understands the frustration caused by protesters who use highly disruptive tactics to stop hard-working people going about their lives, there is no justification for acts of violence.

The police have comprehensive powers to deal with any individual who exhibits violent or threatening behaviour. The College of Policing is the organisation which sets standards and publishes police guidance and is operationally independent. The College has recently worked with the National Police Chiefs' Council to publish National Protest Operational Advice (Public order public safety | College of Policing), which provides operational guidance on dealing with protests, including ensuring the safety of all those present.

In addition, the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice on Public Order Public Safety (Public order public safety | College of Policing) was updated on 8 June 2023 and provides guidance on the policing of major events. The document signposts to the National Protest Operational Advice document.

The Government has recently introduced new legislation in the form of the Public Order Act 2023 and amended existing provisions in the Public Order Act 1986 to ensure that the police have the powers they need to deal with highly disruptive protests. By giving the police these new powers, we will reduce the likelihood of frustrated members of the public engaging in violent or threatening behaviour in response to disruptive protests. In some cases, the use of these new powers has enabled police to clear the streets of protesters in as little as three minutes.

The Home Office does not hold any data on the number of assaults recorded by motorists against protesters. A review into the recording of NCHI, reporting to the Policing Minister, is underway.


Written Question
Driving: Crimes of Violence
Wednesday 25th October 2023

Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of assaults recorded by motorists against protestors undertaking non-violent direct action involving the obstruction of public highways since February 2022.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

It is regrettable that frustrated members of the public have been seen physically confronting protesters. While the government understands the frustration caused by protesters who use highly disruptive tactics to stop hard-working people going about their lives, there is no justification for acts of violence.

The police have comprehensive powers to deal with any individual who exhibits violent or threatening behaviour. The College of Policing is the organisation which sets standards and publishes police guidance and is operationally independent. The College has recently worked with the National Police Chiefs' Council to publish National Protest Operational Advice (Public order public safety | College of Policing), which provides operational guidance on dealing with protests, including ensuring the safety of all those present.

In addition, the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice on Public Order Public Safety (Public order public safety | College of Policing) was updated on 8 June 2023 and provides guidance on the policing of major events. The document signposts to the National Protest Operational Advice document.

The Government has recently introduced new legislation in the form of the Public Order Act 2023 and amended existing provisions in the Public Order Act 1986 to ensure that the police have the powers they need to deal with highly disruptive protests. By giving the police these new powers, we will reduce the likelihood of frustrated members of the public engaging in violent or threatening behaviour in response to disruptive protests. In some cases, the use of these new powers has enabled police to clear the streets of protesters in as little as three minutes.

The Home Office does not hold any data on the number of assaults recorded by motorists against protesters.


Written Question
Offensive Weapons: Sales
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the prevalence of advertisements for the sale of items prohibited under the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (a) on social media platforms and (b) by online retailers; and what steps she is taking to end the sale of those items.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The UK has some of the toughest legislation in the world in relation to the sale of knives and offensive weapons. The sale and importation of a wide range of knives and other weapons are prohibited under the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988. The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 extended these prohibitions to include possession in private. We will be banning ‘zombie style’ knives following our recent consultation on new knife legislation proposals to tackle the use of machetes and other bladed articles in crime. We will also be raising the maximum sentence for those who sell prohibited weapons to two years imprisonment.

Despite this legislation we are aware of ongoing advertising of prohibited items on social media and by online retailers. To combat advertisements on social media, Schedule 7 of The Online Safety Bill (set to achieve Royal Assent (this Autumn) sets out a series of priority offences which include the sale of weapons. Companies, including online marketplaces, will need to take particularly robust action to prevent the proliferation of this content online and ensure that their services are not used for offending. This means companies will need to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share this illegal content, to design their services to mitigate the risk of this occurring and to remove any content that does appear as soon as they are made aware of it.


Written Question
Fire and Rescue Services: Merseyside
Tuesday 2nd May 2023

Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times fire cover has been removed from Merseyside by the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority due to staffing shortfalls since 1 December 2022.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The department does not hold this information.


Written Question
Asylum: Standards
Wednesday 11th January 2023

Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken (a) to process asylum claims and (b) between asylum claims and (i) interviews and (ii) decisions.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

To accelerate decision making we are driving productivity improvements by simplifying and modernising our system. This includes measures like shorter, more focussed interviews; removing unnecessary interviews; making guidance simpler and more accessible; dealing with cases more swiftly where they can be certified as manifestly unfounded; recruiting extra decision makers; and allocating dedicated resources for different nationalities.


Written Question
Refugees: Ukraine
Tuesday 28th June 2022

Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (a) what steps her Department is taking to prevent the exploitation of Ukrainian refugees being facilitated on social media sites and (b) what discussions her Department has had with social media companies regarding this issue.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Homes for Ukraine is a unique scheme which has been set up specifically to support those escaping the conflict in Ukraine who are not able to rely on family support. The scheme cannot be directly accessed through social media sites.

To access the scheme the sponsor and/or their prospective guest must apply for visas through the Home Office run website. This action initiates the first stage in the multi-layered safeguarding defence system which has been built into the scheme. Neither Facebook nor any other social media platforms are part of the scheme design.

The Government is committed to tackling all forms of exploitation, including those facilitated online by organised crime groups and we will continue to clamp down on those who exploit vulnerable people while providing tailored support for victims to help their recovery.

We are working both domestically and internationally to minimise the risk of trafficking and exploitation to the Ukrainian people through the routes they take to the UK and once they arrive here.

To address the domestic risk, we are working with the Department for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities and the NCA to ensure that law enforcement bodies are linked into the scheme to assess potential risks around those looking to exploit the vulnerable and assist with any safeguarding enquiries and that local authorities are aware of who to work with, on the ground, to help mitigate those risks.

To address the international risk, we are providing funding, improving agency capability and pivoting our existing projects in neighbouring countries.


Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan
Monday 23rd May 2022

Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the quality of temporary accommodation provided to refugees from Afghanistan by (a) Serco and (b) other outsourced service providers in the Liverpool City Region.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Asylum Accommodation service providers identify suitable hotels for people seeking asylum and ensure they conform to the accommodation standards and provision set out in Schedule 2 of the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC). The Home Office will then assess the recommendation, undertaking a site visit if needed, to ensure the suitability of the site, and if needed will work with the service provider and the hotel owner to bring the site up to a suitable standard.

Details of the AASC can be found at: New asylum accommodation contracts awarded - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)

For Afghans relocated to the UK under one of our resettlement schemes who are staying in temporary accommodation, we do not use service providers but procure via Crown Commercial Services.


Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan
Wednesday 18th May 2022

Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of Afghan nationals who have sought asylum in the UK following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 who continue to be housed in hotels (a) nationally and (b) in the Liverpool City Region as of 10 May 2022.

Answered by Kevin Foster

There are 12,200 Afghan nationals who have arrived under the Afghan Resettlement scheme and are accommodated in bridging hotels. However, it should be noted that these individuals are not seeking asylum in the UK, they all have leave to remain including the right to work and access benefits and other public services. Within Liverpool, there are approximately 290 individuals.

Approximately 1800 supported asylum seekers claiming to be Afghan Nationals are currently accommodated in Hotels across the UK. Of these, 55 reside in the Liverpool City Region.


Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan
Wednesday 18th May 2022

Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has established a timeframe for securing permanent accommodation for Afghan refugees who are housed in hotels as of 10 May 2022.

Answered by Kevin Foster

We do not want to keep people in temporary accommodation for any longer than is absolutely necessary. We have moved – or are in the process of moving - over 6,000 Afghan Refugees since June 2021.

There is a huge effort underway to support the families into permanent homes as soon as we can so they can settle and rebuild their lives, alongside ensuring those still temporarily accommodated in hotels are given the best start to their life in the UK.

The length of time that a family will remain in a bridging hotel is dependent on a number of factors including offers of appropriate housing from local authorities.