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Written Question
Crime: Hampshire
Wednesday 13th March 2024

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to reduce crime in Hampshire.

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

This Government is committed to cutting crime, keeping our streets safe, and restoring confidence in the criminal justice system. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are responsible for policing in their area and are focused on the local priorities for policing, to help cut crime.

The Government is funding a range of initiatives in Hampshire to reduce crime. This includes the Safer Streets Fund, the Government’s flagship crime prevention programme, where Hampshire has received over £4 million of investment. Hampshire has received almost £1.5 million for 2024/2025 to increase uniformed police hotspot response, and since 2019 the Home Office has invested over £5.1m to develop and run the Hampshire Violence Reduction Unit.

These initiatives are in addition to the investment we have made available to increase officer numbers. Hampshire and Isle of Wight recruited 582 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 518 officers. As at 30 September 2023, there were 3,422 police officers in Hampshire and Isle of Wight, a total growth of 631 additional officers against the baseline (2,791) at the start of the Police Uplift Programme.

Hampshire Police’s funding will be up to 464.2 million in 2024/25, an increase of up to 29.2 million when compared to 2023/24.


Written Question
Drugs: Organised Crime
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps the (a) police and (b) National Crime Agency have taken to tackle county lines operations in (i) Hampshire and (ii) the UK.

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

This Government is determined to crack down on county lines gangs which is why, through the 10-year Drug Strategy, we are bolstering our flagship County Lines Programme, investing up to £145m over three years to tackle this violent and exploitative distribution model.

County lines is a national issue which affects all forces which is why, through the Programme, we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. The County Lines Programme forces (MPS, West Midlands, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and British Transport Police) also regularly conduct joint operations with importing forces. In addition, we have established a dedicated fund which provides local police forces, including Hampshire Constabulary, with additional funding to tackle county lines.

Since the County Lines Programme was launched in 2019, police activity has resulted in over 5,100 line closures, over 15,600 arrests and over 8,000 safeguarding referrals. This includes over 2,100 line closures by the Programme taskforces since April 2022, meeting the Drugs Strategy commitment of over 2,000 by April 2025 in half the time.


Written Question
Police: Hampshire
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to increase the allocation of funding for the police in Hampshire.

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

In December 2023 the Government published the provisional Police Funding Settlement for 2024-25 which proposed a total police funding settlement of up to £18.4 billion in 2024-25, an increase of up to £842.9 million compared to 2023-24.

Hampshire Police will receive funding of up to £464.2 million of funding in 2024-25, an increase of £29.2 million compared to 2023-24.


Written Question
National Security
Wednesday 29th November 2023

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle hostile state activity.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The Home Office has an important role in the cross-government response to state threats. Through the National Security Act 2023, we have brought together vital new measures to protect our national security, which will enable our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to deter, detect and disrupt the full range of modern-day state threats.

I also lead the Defending Democracy Taskforce, which seeks to protect the democratic integrity of the UK from threats of foreign interference


Written Question
Speed Limits: Cameras
Monday 27th November 2023

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact on privacy of the use of Sentio speed cameras.

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

All speed cameras undergo the Home Office Type Approval requirements and testing regime before they can be used in court proceedings without the need for other corroborative evidence. The Sensio speed camera is currently undergoing Type Approval for use in detecting speed offences.

Police forces are required to comply with the data principles contained within UK GDPR part 2 general processing and the DPA 2018 part 3 for law enforcement when processing personal data. The use of speed camera devices should be necessary and proportionate in line with these principles.


Written Question
Police: Career Development
Tuesday 21st November 2023

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with the College of Policing on the reinstatement of direct entry routes to (a) inspector and (b) superintendent.

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

This Government is committed to ensuring a high standard of leadership across policing.

As part of its important work to develop the National Centre for Police Leadership, the College of Policing remains committed to exploring options for a viable and sustainable delivery model for Direct Entry pathways in the future, if there is clear demand from forces. Following further consultation with the sector last year, it was clear that demand was not sufficient to run a recalibrated programme at either inspector or superintendent rank at the present time.

To ensure a strong pipeline of leaders at all levels, the College launched new national leadership standards for every level in policing earlier this year. It is now rolling out a new national talent management strategy for policing, including a new two-year development programme to enable the most talented serving police inspectors to advance more quickly to superintendent rank.


Written Question
Police: Career Development
Wednesday 25th October 2023

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of direct entry routes into police ranks of (a) inspector and (b) superintendent.

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

As police demand is changing and becoming increasingly complex, it is vital that we have forces that are fit for the future. Forces need to recruit the best and most able people. This is why there must be a wide choice of entry routes available into policing, helping to ensure that we can draw on the widest talent available.

The College of Policing’s Direct Entry Programmes at inspector and superintendent rank demonstrated that it is possible to successfully recruit high calibre leaders from outside of policing to senior roles. The full evaluation reports of the two programmes were published in the House on 20 July 2020 -Deposited paper DEP2020-0445 - Deposited papers - UK Parliament

Following the evaluation, the schemes were paused whilst the College undertook a consultation with the service, to explore the potential for a viable and sustainable delivery model in future years. The College remain committed to delivering Direct Entry pathways if there is demand from forces in future, and will re-engage with forces on the future delivery of national Direct Entry programmes when other ongoing leadership development, promotion and progression initiatives have been embedded in policing.


Written Question
Metropolitan Police: Disciplinary Proceedings
Thursday 18th May 2023

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the (a) effectiveness of the misconduct process and (b) adequacy of decisions on (i) dismissals and (ii) other sanctions handed down by legally qualified chairs in the Metropolitan Police in the period (A) before and (B) after 2016.

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

On 17 January 2023, the Home Secretary formally launched a review into the process of police officer dismissals to ensure that the system is fair and effective at removing those officers who are not fit to serve.

The Terms of Reference were published on the same day and include the composition of misconduct panels, the consistency of decision-making in certain types of cases and the trends in the use of sanctions.


Written Question
Electronic Cigarettes: Imports
Friday 24th March 2023

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of illicit vaping products that were imported in the last 12 months.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office has made no estimate of the number of illicit vaping products that were imported in the last 12 months.


Written Question
Passports: North East Hampshire
Wednesday 7th December 2022

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport applications (a) have been and (b) are yet to be processed from people in North East Hampshire constituency in the last 12 months.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

His Majesty’s Passport Office is unable to provide data relating to volumes of applications received from any particular constituency as this data cannot be extracted into a reportable format.