Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether financial resources will be made available to charities and voluntary groups organising public events in order for them to comply with the provisions of the Terrorism (Protection Of Premises) Act 2025.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 will strengthen protective security and preparedness by requiring those responsible for certain premises and events, including those run by charities and voluntary groups, to consider how they would respond to a terrorist attack.
Whether the Act applies to particular premises or events will depend on several factors. Premises may be in scope if they consist of at least one building, are wholly or mainly used for one or more of the uses specified in Schedule 1, and 200 or more people can reasonably be expected to be present at the premises at the same time.
Events may be in scope if they take place in a building or on land, 800 or more people are reasonably expected to be present at the same time, and it is accessible to members of the public with measures in place to check that attendees satisfy a condition of entry (e.g. that they have paid, have a ticket or pass, or are members or guests of a club, association or similar body).
Therefore, smaller events or those not limited by such access control may not be in scope.
The Government recognises the importance of non-profit and volunteer-run events and is committed to supporting those responsible to prepare for the Act’s commencement, which will not be before April 2027.
As part of this support, the Home Office will publish statutory guidance before the Act comes into force. This guidance will assist those responsible to understand the Act’s requirements and will be designed to be easy to follow, requiring no particular expertise nor the use of third-party suppliers.
The person responsible for an event or premises that falls within scope of the Act will need to determine which procedures and/or measures are reasonably practicable. One size will not fit all, and the Act’s reasonably practicable requirement will enable businesses to consider what is proportionate to their circumstances.
For these reasons, the Government does not consider financial support necessary to deliver the Act’s requirements.
Further information on the Act, including on what constitutes a qualifying event or a qualifying premises, may be found in factsheets on Gov.UK - Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: factsheets - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will commission research into the potential work-related causes of police officer suicides and attempted suicides.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
This Government takes the physical and mental health of the police workforce very seriously and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £14m to the National Police Wellbeing Service. The Service is helping forces to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.
Through the Police Covenant, we continue to work with policing partners to ensure those who work in policing and their families get the support and protection they need. We have already delivered pre-deployment mental health support for all new starters, established a Chief Medical Officer for policing and set an initial priority work stream on suicide prevention.
The Home Office is also providing funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. This will provide urgent support for our police when they need it the most and can be accessed from any area at any time.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding his Department provided to help support police officers' mental health in each year since 2019.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
This Government takes the physical and mental health of the police workforce very seriously and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £14m to the National Police Wellbeing Service. The Service is helping forces to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.
Through the Police Covenant, we continue to work with policing partners to ensure those who work in policing and their families get the support and protection they need. We have already delivered pre-deployment mental health support for all new starters, established a Chief Medical Officer for policing and set an initial priority work stream on suicide prevention.
The Home Office is also providing funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. This will provide urgent support for our police when they need it the most and can be accessed from any area at any time.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help support police officers with mental health issues.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
This Government takes the physical and mental health of the police workforce very seriously and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £14m to the National Police Wellbeing Service. The Service is helping forces to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.
Through the Police Covenant, we continue to work with policing partners to ensure those who work in policing and their families get the support and protection they need. We have already delivered pre-deployment mental health support for all new starters, established a Chief Medical Officer for policing and set an initial priority work stream on suicide prevention.
The Home Office is also providing funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. This will provide urgent support for our police when they need it the most and can be accessed from any area at any time.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help ensure that fire and rescue services are able to respond to extreme weather events.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office collects data on incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) through the Fire and Rescue Service Incident Recording System (IRS).
This data includes the location category of the fire and the source of ignition. However, the system does not currently record whether an incident is a wildfire.
The IRS system is currently being replaced and wildfires will be included in the future. Outdoor fire data is published at Outdoor fires in England incident level dataset (expanded) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many wildfires there were in the UK between October (a) 2021 and 2022 and (b) 2022 and 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office collects data on incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) through the Fire and Rescue Service Incident Recording System (IRS).
This data includes the location category of the fire and the source of ignition. However, the system does not currently record whether an incident is a wildfire.
The IRS system is currently being replaced and wildfires will be included in the future. Outdoor fire data is published at Outdoor fires in England incident level dataset (expanded) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an estimate of the number of fire stations that have closed per region since 2010.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
For the latest available data, to year ending March 2021, there were 1,390 fire stations, compared with 1,439 in year ending March 2010, a reduction of 49 stations over the period for the whole of England. In the year ending March 2010, there were 101,159 primary fires in England, compared with 61,922 in year ending March 2021.
Table 1: Number of Fire Stations in England, by year
Year ending March | Number of Fire Stations | England-wide Annual Change |
2010 | 1,439 |
|
2011 | 1,435 | -4 |
2012 | 1,422 | -13 |
2013 | 1,416 | -6 |
2014 | 1,407 | -9 |
2015 | 1,409 | +2 |
2016 | 1,400 | -9 |
2017 | 1,400 | 0 |
2018 | 1,394 | -6 |
2019 | 1,395 | +1 |
2020 | 1,393 | -2 |
2021 | 1,390 | -3 |
Change 2010 to 2021 | -49 | |
Data on fire stations is published in FIRE1403, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/634d2ed6e90e0731aa0fcc59/fire-statistics-data-tables-fire1403-201022.xlsx. This provides the number of fire stations by year for England, and for each fire and rescue service (FRS), designated as either metropolitan or non-metropolitan. We do not publish the data by region, but the numbers for each FRS can be aggregated to provide required regional level data.
Data on the number of primary fires is published in FIRE0102, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65324b0e26b9b1000faf1c5e/fire-statistics-data-tables-fire0102-261023.xlsx.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of neighbourhood policing levels.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
This Government is giving forces the resources they need to police local communities and fight crime.
At the end of March 2023, we successfully delivered our commitment to recruit 20,000 additional officers in England and Wales, which means we now have the highest number of officers on record.
Decisions about how these officers are deployed are for Chief Constables, who are accountable to locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners and mayors with these functions.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the daily per person rate of funding provided to Luton Borough Council to support asylum seekers housed in (a) dispersed accommodation, (b) overflow dispersed accommodation, (c) contingency hotel, (d) stage one overnight initial accommodation and (e) spot booking.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Asylum seekers accommodated by the Home Office have access to Migrant Help, a voluntary sector organisation funded by the Home Office, can use the NHS free of charge and are provided with other support to cover their essential living needs.
The Full Dispersal model, announced on 13 April 2022 is supported by £21million of un-ringfenced grant funding to make sure eligible Local Authorities can provide wraparound support locally. Local authorities will also receive £3,500 for each new dispersal accommodation bed space in the 22/23 financial year. Our accommodation providers have a robust delivery model in place, maximising the use of on-site facilities for recreation, and pastoral care to minimise impact on the local community.
Security and support staff are on site 24 hours a day and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the safety of vulnerable residents and to mitigate any risks to them and the wider community.
Multi Agency Forum meetings are held regularly to discuss the operational arrangements of sites with Local Authority Officials and statutory partners, which also allows exchange of data of this nature.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the daily per person rate of funding provided to local authorities to support asylum seekers housed in (a) dispersed accommodation, (b) overflow dispersed accommodation, (c) contingency hotels, (d) stage one overnight initial accommodation and (e) spot booking.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Asylum seekers accommodated by the Home Office have access to Migrant Help, a voluntary sector organisation funded by the Home Office, can use the NHS free of charge and are provided with other support to cover their essential living needs.
The Full Dispersal model, announced on 13 April 2022 is supported by £21million of un-ringfenced grant funding to make sure eligible Local Authorities can provide wraparound support locally. Local authorities will also receive £3,500 for each new dispersal accommodation bed space in the 22/23 financial year. Our accommodation providers have a robust delivery model in place, maximising the use of on-site facilities for recreation, and pastoral care to minimise impact on the local community.
Security and support staff are on site 24 hours a day and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the safety of vulnerable residents and to mitigate any risks to them and the wider community.
Multi Agency Forum meetings are held regularly to discuss the operational arrangements of sites with Local Authority Officials and statutory partners, which also allows exchange of data of this nature.