Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Home Office:
What additional funding her Department plans to provide to ensure that police forces have the capacity to enforce localised covid-19 lockdowns in addition to carrying out their other duties.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Secretary promised to stand behind the men and women of our Police to give them the resources, powers and funding they need to keep the British public safe and we are working with all police forces to capture the additional financial pressures they are experiencing as a result of COVID-19.
We will issue further detail of the support package we are providing as soon as possible.
The police funding settlement for 2020/21 set out that £168m of the additional funding for recruitment this year would be ringfenced and paid to forces. It has been agreed that half of this funding (£84m) will be flexed to allow for expenditure on both COVID-19 related pressures and continued Police Uplift Programme recruitment activity in light of the current circumstances.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase recruitment to Cleveland Police.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In October 2019 Home Office confirmed officer allocations for every force in England and Wales in the first year of the uplift. The Home Office is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to support all forces deliver these allocations.
Cleveland will receive 72 officers in year one of the uplift. Cleveland Police will receive up to £143.3m in funding in 2020/21 an increase of up to £10.1m on 2019/20.
The recruitment of officers is an operational decision for Chief Constables working with their locally elected Police and Crime Commissioner.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that firearms licensing medical procedures are being (a) complied with and (b) promoted.
Answered by Nick Hurd
In accordance with arrangements introduced in 2016, the police write to the GPs of those who apply for a firearms licence to seek relevant information regarding the applicant’s medical and mental health before the licence is issued. We are working with the police, relevant medical bodies and others to understand whether these arrangements are working as intended or whether further measures are required to ensure that we have consistent arrangements across the country.
The Policing and Crime Act 2017 provides the Secretary of State with the power to issue statutory guidance to the police on their firearms licensing functions, including guidance on these medical arrangements. We intend to consult on this guidance before it is finalised.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the status is of the proposal to create a national infrastructure police force; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government continues to consider the feasibility, benefits and risks of creating a national infrastructure police force. As this work continues, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, Ministry of Defence Police and the British Transport Police continue to work together and in collaboration with territorial forces to optimise the protection of the public and our critical infrastructure.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, her Department is taking to reduce the number of dangerous journeys taken by unaccompanied child refugees with family in the UK.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
As per the answer of 15 November 2017 (112550), the Government strongly supports the principle of family unity, and we have a comprehensive framework in place for refugees and their families to be safely reunited in the UK without the need for dangerous journeys.
Our family reunion policy allows children to join their refugee parents, and there are also specific provisions in the Immigration Rules that allow extended family members lawfully resident in the UK to sponsor unaccompanied children where there are serious and compelling circumstances. We have reunited over 24,000 partners and children with their families under our family reunion policy in the last five years. Further, those children recognised by UNHCR as refugees can join close family members in the UK through our Mandate resettlement scheme.