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Written Question
Theft: Auctions
Friday 8th March 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a database of stolen goods which (a) can be updated by law enforcement agencies and (b) auction houses can search before selling an item.

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

The Government recognises the significant impact invasive crimes such as theft can have on individuals and the wider community. The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 51% compared to findings from the year ending March 2010.

The Home Office established the Stolen Goods Working Group in January 2021, collaborating with policing and academic leads to deliver a programme of work that will make it harder for criminals to profit financially from acquisitive crime.

Through this group the Government are working closely with a group of expert policing and academic partners who are taking forward work across a number of themes. These include actions to identify where and how stolen goods are commonly sold; examining ways to ensure property is marked, identifiable and traceable; exploring ways to share best practice between forces; and examining what more can be done to tackle the disposal markets for stolen goods and reduce the profit from acquisitive crime.

There are a number of police-led schemes to prevent the sale of stolen goods, including We Don’t Buy Crime and the Safe Seller scheme. Under these schemes, sellers of second-hand goods commit to undertake checks before buying and offering goods for sale.

Owners are encouraged to mark and register property, this helps to prove ownership of an item and return it to the rightful owner if stolen property is recovered. There are a number of commercially run property marking databases where members of the public can register their items. Some of these specialise in certain types of items such as bicycles or antiques. Police Crime Prevention Initiatives have developed practical crime prevention advice to better understand how to better safeguard property. Information can be found here https://www.securedbydesign.com/guidance/crime-prevention-advice/fuel-theft.

The Criminal Justice Bill, currently making its passage through Parliament, includes a new power for the police to enter premises to search for and seize specific stolen items. This power will allow swift seizure of stolen property and better gathering of evidence to support investigation and arrest, which police indicate is crucial for acquisitive crime offences.

Online sale sites have policies in place to prevent the sale of illegal items and items that encourage illegal activity, along with guidance for the public on how to avoid purchasing stolen goods. The Online Safety Act 2023 will place a new responsibility on tech companies to prevent users encountering illegal content, which includes advertisements for stolen goods.

There are currently no plans to introduce a database of stolen goods which can be updated by law enforcement or bring forward legislative proposals to strengthen the checks auction houses must carry out to prevent the sale of stolen goods.


Written Question
Theft: Sales
Friday 8th March 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department takes to help protect legal owners against the sale of stolen goods (a) at auction houses and (b) online.

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

The Government recognises the significant impact invasive crimes such as theft can have on individuals and the wider community. The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 51% compared to findings from the year ending March 2010.

The Home Office established the Stolen Goods Working Group in January 2021, collaborating with policing and academic leads to deliver a programme of work that will make it harder for criminals to profit financially from acquisitive crime.

Through this group the Government are working closely with a group of expert policing and academic partners who are taking forward work across a number of themes. These include actions to identify where and how stolen goods are commonly sold; examining ways to ensure property is marked, identifiable and traceable; exploring ways to share best practice between forces; and examining what more can be done to tackle the disposal markets for stolen goods and reduce the profit from acquisitive crime.

There are a number of police-led schemes to prevent the sale of stolen goods, including We Don’t Buy Crime and the Safe Seller scheme. Under these schemes, sellers of second-hand goods commit to undertake checks before buying and offering goods for sale.

Owners are encouraged to mark and register property, this helps to prove ownership of an item and return it to the rightful owner if stolen property is recovered. There are a number of commercially run property marking databases where members of the public can register their items. Some of these specialise in certain types of items such as bicycles or antiques. Police Crime Prevention Initiatives have developed practical crime prevention advice to better understand how to better safeguard property. Information can be found here https://www.securedbydesign.com/guidance/crime-prevention-advice/fuel-theft.

The Criminal Justice Bill, currently making its passage through Parliament, includes a new power for the police to enter premises to search for and seize specific stolen items. This power will allow swift seizure of stolen property and better gathering of evidence to support investigation and arrest, which police indicate is crucial for acquisitive crime offences.

Online sale sites have policies in place to prevent the sale of illegal items and items that encourage illegal activity, along with guidance for the public on how to avoid purchasing stolen goods. The Online Safety Act 2023 will place a new responsibility on tech companies to prevent users encountering illegal content, which includes advertisements for stolen goods.

There are currently no plans to introduce a database of stolen goods which can be updated by law enforcement or bring forward legislative proposals to strengthen the checks auction houses must carry out to prevent the sale of stolen goods.


Written Question
Theft: Auctions
Friday 8th March 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to strengthen the checks auction houses must carry out to prevent the sale of stolen goods.

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

The Government recognises the significant impact invasive crimes such as theft can have on individuals and the wider community. The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 51% compared to findings from the year ending March 2010.

The Home Office established the Stolen Goods Working Group in January 2021, collaborating with policing and academic leads to deliver a programme of work that will make it harder for criminals to profit financially from acquisitive crime.

Through this group the Government are working closely with a group of expert policing and academic partners who are taking forward work across a number of themes. These include actions to identify where and how stolen goods are commonly sold; examining ways to ensure property is marked, identifiable and traceable; exploring ways to share best practice between forces; and examining what more can be done to tackle the disposal markets for stolen goods and reduce the profit from acquisitive crime.

There are a number of police-led schemes to prevent the sale of stolen goods, including We Don’t Buy Crime and the Safe Seller scheme. Under these schemes, sellers of second-hand goods commit to undertake checks before buying and offering goods for sale.

Owners are encouraged to mark and register property, this helps to prove ownership of an item and return it to the rightful owner if stolen property is recovered. There are a number of commercially run property marking databases where members of the public can register their items. Some of these specialise in certain types of items such as bicycles or antiques. Police Crime Prevention Initiatives have developed practical crime prevention advice to better understand how to better safeguard property. Information can be found here https://www.securedbydesign.com/guidance/crime-prevention-advice/fuel-theft.

The Criminal Justice Bill, currently making its passage through Parliament, includes a new power for the police to enter premises to search for and seize specific stolen items. This power will allow swift seizure of stolen property and better gathering of evidence to support investigation and arrest, which police indicate is crucial for acquisitive crime offences.

Online sale sites have policies in place to prevent the sale of illegal items and items that encourage illegal activity, along with guidance for the public on how to avoid purchasing stolen goods. The Online Safety Act 2023 will place a new responsibility on tech companies to prevent users encountering illegal content, which includes advertisements for stolen goods.

There are currently no plans to introduce a database of stolen goods which can be updated by law enforcement or bring forward legislative proposals to strengthen the checks auction houses must carry out to prevent the sale of stolen goods.


Written Question
Criminal Justice Bill: Homelessness
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on implementation of the provisions in the Criminal Justice Bill to support people out of homelessness and rough sleeping.

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

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities lead on homelessness and rough sleeping and as such have regular meetings with stakeholders. They reviewed the Vagrancy Act and determined replacement legislation was needed. They published the response to their public consultation on replacement in 2023.

The Home Office has additionally engaged with police, local authorities, PCCs and other organisations including the homelessness sector on this topic. This has highlighted that more direct tools were needed to respond to begging and rough sleeping where it causes nuisance to others.

These provisions will be supported by guidance highlighting that local authority outreach and engagement remain at the heart of our approach here and that these civil tools support a staggered approach to enforcement where that is necessary.

I and my Rt Hon friend the Home Secretary have ongoing discussions with Ministerial colleagues, including in the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, about the provisions in the Criminal Justice Bill, including those relating to tackling nuisance rough sleeping.

Equality and Economic impact assessments for the Bill have been published and are available at: Criminal Justice Bill 2023: impact assessments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Criminal Justice Bill: Homelessness
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Criminal Justice Bill on people experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping.

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

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities lead on homelessness and rough sleeping and as such have regular meetings with stakeholders. They reviewed the Vagrancy Act and determined replacement legislation was needed. They published the response to their public consultation on replacement in 2023.

The Home Office has additionally engaged with police, local authorities, PCCs and other organisations including the homelessness sector on this topic. This has highlighted that more direct tools were needed to respond to begging and rough sleeping where it causes nuisance to others.

These provisions will be supported by guidance highlighting that local authority outreach and engagement remain at the heart of our approach here and that these civil tools support a staggered approach to enforcement where that is necessary.

I and my Rt Hon friend the Home Secretary have ongoing discussions with Ministerial colleagues, including in the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, about the provisions in the Criminal Justice Bill, including those relating to tackling nuisance rough sleeping.

Equality and Economic impact assessments for the Bill have been published and are available at: Criminal Justice Bill 2023: impact assessments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Criminal Justice Bill: Homelessness
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with organisations that support people experiencing homelessness on the Criminal Justice Bill.

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

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities lead on homelessness and rough sleeping and as such have regular meetings with stakeholders. They reviewed the Vagrancy Act and determined replacement legislation was needed. They published the response to their public consultation on replacement in 2023.

The Home Office has additionally engaged with police, local authorities, PCCs and other organisations including the homelessness sector on this topic. This has highlighted that more direct tools were needed to respond to begging and rough sleeping where it causes nuisance to others.

These provisions will be supported by guidance highlighting that local authority outreach and engagement remain at the heart of our approach here and that these civil tools support a staggered approach to enforcement where that is necessary.

I and my Rt Hon friend the Home Secretary have ongoing discussions with Ministerial colleagues, including in the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, about the provisions in the Criminal Justice Bill, including those relating to tackling nuisance rough sleeping.

Equality and Economic impact assessments for the Bill have been published and are available at: Criminal Justice Bill 2023: impact assessments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Asylum: Employment
Wednesday 21st February 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the economic benefits of allowing asylum seekers to work if they have been waiting six months or more for an initial decision.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Asylum seekers who have had their claim outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own, are allowed to work. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List. This is based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee. It is the Home Office’s assessment that any analysis in this area is dependent on making assumptions from limited evidence and will therefore produce uncertain results.

Whilst we keep all policies under review, there are no immediate plans to change the existing policy, other than aligning it with the upcoming Immigration Salary List, which replaces the SOL. It is important that we distinguish between individuals who need protection and those seeking to work here who can apply for a work visa under the Immigration Rules. The Government has always been clear that asylum seekers do not need to make perilous journeys in order to seek employment in the UK. Those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.

Whilst there is mixed evidence that access to work in itself is a pull factor, it is reasonable to assume that this is one element in a range of factors that may drive illegal migration rather than use of legal routes to work in the UK. These routes include Skilled Worker, Global Talent, and Health and Care routes, which are supporting UK businesses to recruit workers with the skills and talent they need from around the world.


Written Question
Asylum: Temporary Accommodation
Monday 18th December 2023

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers had their accommodation support withdrawn after a rejected asylum application in (a) the UK and (b) Liverpool City council local authority area in (i) 2017-18, (ii) 2018-19, (iii) 2019-20 and (iv) 2022-23.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). Data is published on a quarterly basis. The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers in Home Office accommodation by local authority, and figures on the number of discontinuations of asylum support are not available in a readily reportable format.


Written Question
Cannabis: Decriminalisation
Thursday 6th July 2023

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect of decriminalising cannabis (a) possession, (b) supply and (c) manufacture on the prison population.

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

No assessment has been made. The Government has no plans to decriminalise cannabis.


Written Question
Sleeping Rough: Arrests
Tuesday 2nd May 2023

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to police forces in England on the use of the Vagrancy Act 1824 to arrest rough sleepers.

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

The Government is committed to ending rough sleeping, and published their cross Government strategy, Ending Rough Sleeping for good, on 3 September 2022 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ending-rough-sleeping-for-good .

This strategy sets out the work that is underway, including the joint commitment of both the Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to ensure “everyone experiencing rough sleeping to have an appropriate and timely offer of support, tailored to their needs and the services they are eligible for, and that all agencies have the tools they need to unlock this support.”

The Strategy is backed by vital funding of £2 billion over three years.

Police officers can reference the ASB toolkit, with specific pages on Rough Sleeping which is produced by the National Police Chiefs Council. The Government are considering what further guidance is required alongside work on the repeal and replacement of the Vagrancy Act.