Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Hurd Excerpts

Monday 4th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

3. What guidance his Department provides to police forces on the policing of protests.

[The Minister for Policing and the Fire Service (Mr Nick Hurd)]

The Home Office monitors protest threats, but the management of protests is an operational and independent matter for the police so no Home Office guidance or briefings have been issued.

[Huw Merriman]

Does the Minister agree that protest groups whose core aim is to disrupt legitimate business, such as meat production, should pay towards the cost of policing? Surely it cannot be right either for there to be too few police covering the protests, or for there to be fewer police elsewhere because those who are covering the protests cannot police the rest of the community.

[Mr Hurd]

I understand the point that my hon. Friend is making, and I understand how distressing it must be for a legitimate business to be on the receiving end of a campaign of disruption. I am sure that, as a good democrat, my hon. Friend would not want to do anything to undermine the principle of peaceful protest. When that crosses the line into harassment or threats to public safety, we have recourse to the Public Order Act 1986 and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Ealing’s police have been dealing with one protest for 23 years outside our local Marie Stopes clinic. The aim of the protest is to prevent women from accessing healthcare. Although our council has now introduced a public spaces protection order, this is a national problem that requires a national solution. Will the Minister respond to the letter that 160 of us—including the Father of the House, the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), and three Select Committee Chairs—wrote to him asking for his predecessor’s review to be published, and will he opt for our proposed solution of buffer zones? That would be an easy win for him at an early stage in his already successful career.

[Mr Hurd]

The hon. Lady and I have debated this matter in Westminster Hall, and we both know that there is a balance to be struck between the right to protest and ensuring that protests do not cross the line into harassment and intimidation. As she says, her local council has introduced a public spaces protection order, and we need to see how that goes. As for the review that she mentioned, it was entered into in good faith and it is ongoing.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

4. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the new process for non-UK EU citizens resident in the UK to apply for settled status. [R]

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[The Minister for Policing and the Fire Service (Mr Nick Hurd)]

The statutory fire and rescue national framework includes principles that all services should follow to ensure that firefighters remain fit and fully supported to remain on operational duties and in employment.

[Liz Twist]

Fire and rescue services attended 574,659 incidents in the year to June 2017, an increase on the previous year. Has the Minister made any effort to ensure that the falling number of firefighters and fire stations are not overstretched?

[Mr Hurd]

Yes, because we believe the fire system has the resources it needs to do the job against a backdrop of falling demand for statutory fire services. Of course, the system is sitting on over £600 million of reserves, which have grown by over £0.25 billion since 2011.

[Grahame Morris]

The ageing work profile among our firefighters is partially a result of changes to the firefighters’ pension scheme. What assessment has the Minister made of the number of redeployment opportunities for firefighters who are compelled to work to the age of 60?

[Mr Hurd]

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. The average age of our firefighters is 42, and we have more than 1,000 firefighters who are over 56, which makes it extremely important that fire authorities do not just assess fitness but help firefighters to maintain and develop their fitness and give firefighters all the necessary support and protection when there is a problem so they can continue in their operational duties. That is set out in the statutory fire and rescue national framework, and it will be the subject of independent inspection when independent inspection starts this year.

[Mr Speaker]

With ingenuity, the hon. Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes) will detect that his question is not unadjacent, and if he wishes to put it now, he can.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

21. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. May I ask my right hon. Friend what work his Department can do to support the Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, as he seeks greater collaboration between the police and fire services in the west midlands?

[Mr Hurd]

I assure my hon. Friend that I speak regularly to Andy Street. The Government are determined to honour the second devolution deal, including with proposals to help to bring police and fire services under the Mayor, as we have done in London and Manchester. I assure my hon. Friend that we are absolutely committed to working with both Andy Street and the police and crime commissioner to make sure that that happens by 2020.

[Karen Lee (Lincoln) (Lab)]

As a result of this Government’s cut to funding, along with no recruitment drive, we have seen both a reduction in the number of firefighters and an increasingly ageing workforce. How do the Government plan to address the rising age of firefighters? Will the Minister please give us some specific examples?

[Mr Hurd]

I already have. Through the statutory national framework, every fire authority is required not just to assess firefighter fitness, but to help to develop and maintain it, giving assurances about support if problems arise, so that every firefighter, whatever their age, is given the maximum possible opportunity to continue to support their service and remain on operational duties. That is set out in the statutory framework.

[Damien Moore (Southport) (Con)]

10. What steps he is taking to ensure that illegal migrants cannot work in the UK.

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[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

17. What recent assessment he has made of trends in waiting times for forensic test results in criminal cases.

[The Minister for Policing and the Fire Service (Mr Nick Hurd)]

Waiting times for forensic test results differ between police forces depending on the types of tests required and the different arrangements that each police force has in place to deliver its forensic services.

[Ruth George]

My local police force in Derbyshire tells me that, since the closure of one of the private forensic testing companies, it now takes more than six months for forensic tests in criminal cases to come back. That is obviously far in excess of the pre-charge bail conditions that it can put on people, and is seriously hampering it in its abilities to arrest and detain offenders.

[Mr Hurd]

I assume that that data is true, and I share the hon. Lady’s concern about it. Our overall perception is that the majority of forensic services are currently being delivered faster, more reliably and to higher quality standards than in the past, but the system has had to absorb a couple of quite significant shocks recently, which is why I am conducting a review with stakeholders into the future effectiveness of the forensic market.

[Craig Tracey (North Warwickshire) (Con)]

23. What steps he is taking to implement a fair, effective and sustainable immigration system.

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[Andrea Jenkyns (Morley and Outwood) (Con)]

T10. The people of Morley and Outwood want to see more police officers on the streets. What are the Government doing to recruit more police officers, particularly in West Yorkshire?

[The Minister for Policing and the Fire Service (Mr Nick Hurd)]

We have taken steps that have led to an additional £460 million of taxpayers’ money going into the police system, including another £9.9 million for West Yorkshire, where the police and crime commissioner has said that he will use it to recruit more than 140 police officers and staff—and that is on top of an increase in 2016. I am sure that my hon. Friend will do a great job in holding him to account to make sure that those additional resources are used to the benefit of her constituents.

[Ms Karen Buck (Westminster North) (Lab)]

T4. A few weeks ago, the Government’s chief inspector of borders and immigration said of the right to rent policy that it“is yet to demonstrate its worth as a tool to encourage immigration compliance”,that“the Home Office has failed to coordinate, maximise or even measure…its use”,and that“externally it is doing little to address stakeholders’ concerns.”Is it not time to listen to the wide range of concerns about this failing policy? What is the Secretary of State going to do to review it?

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

I was humbled to take part in the Firefighters Memorial Day commemorations in Corby a few weeks ago. Will my right hon. Friend join me in commending our brilliant and brave firefighters in Northamptonshire for all they do?

[Mr Hurd]

I am certainly happy to commend firefighters not just in Northamptonshire but across the country, who do an incredibly difficult and demanding job within a service that this country can rightly be very proud of.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

T5. The Home Office revoked some 40,000 visas from students of the test of English for international communication following the BBC “Panorama” investigation of 2014, and it is estimated that 4,000 to 7,000 of those students were wrongly accused. The Home Secretary gave my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms) an undertaking that he would look at that. Can he update the House and explain whether his Department will have an urgent helpline for those affected and hold a review of the matter?