Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle fraudulent calling.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Fraudulent calls can be particularly stressful and damaging for the most vulnerable in society. Nuisance calls and cold calling can be a gateway to scams, with opportunistic criminals targeting potential victims.
The Government has taken a range of actions to reduce the number of these calls - it has banned cold calls from personal injury firms and pensions providers unless the consumer has explicitly agreed to be contacted. It has introduced director liability for nuisance calls and has supported the National Trading Standards Scams Team to roll out call blocking devices to vulnerable people. DCMS have provided over £1 million in the last 3 years to National Trading Standards for distribution of call blocking devices to vulnerable people. This funding has helped protect some of the most vulnerable in society from nuisance calls and scams, including those originating from overseas.
However, the Government recognises there is more to do and is working closely with industry, regulators and consumer groups to consider further legislative and non-legislative solutions.
The Government is also aware that criminals are exploiting the pandemic to commit opportunistic crimes such as fraud. Although Covid-19 related fraud represents a small proportion of overall fraud reporting, we understand the devastating impact it can have on individuals. Along with partners, we have been implementing measures to ensure the public has the protection and advice needed to shield themselves from these crimes.
We have published guidance for the public to spot potential frauds and the steps they can take to avoid them. This advice can currently be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-fraud-and-cyber-crime
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect on levels of crime in Harlow of the recent uplift in funding for the police.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office collects data from police forces on police recorded crime, broken down by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership Area, including Harlow.
The latest data can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables
On the 4th February 2021, the Government published a total police funding settlement of up to £15.8 billion in 2021/22, an increase of up to £636 million compared to 2020/21. Overall police funding available to PCCs will increase by up to £703 million (5.4% in cash terms) next year.
Essex police’s funding will be up to £339 million in 2021/22, an increase of up to £18.8 million. In 2020/21, they are receiving up to £320.2 million in funding.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have been employed in Harlow in each year since the financial year 2018-19.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce by Police Force Area in England and Wales on a biannual basis in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.
Data are collected at Police Force Area level only, and lower levels of geography such as Harlow are not held by the Home Office.
The latest available data for the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) officers employed in each Police Force Area, covering the situation as at 30 September 2020, are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department is making on meeting the 2.3 per cent public sector apprenticeship target; and when her Department will meet that target.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Departments are committed to increasing the number of apprentices across the Civil Service and continue to work towards the 2.3% target. The impact of the current pandemic has slowed recruitment due to priority work and logistics. With the current strategy and targets coming to an end in April 2021, the Civil Service is already focusing on how to continue to support the apprenticeship agenda and drive forward apprenticeship recruitment, pulling on the Plan for Jobs initiative and considering the current economic situation.
As of 31 March 2020, the Civil Service has achieved a total of 2.1% of its total workforce as apprentices against the legislative target for the public sector of 2.3% by March 2021.
As of 31 March 2020, the Home Office had achieved 1.1 % of the total staff employed within the department at this time.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on campaigns to recruit more special constables.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Special constables bring diverse and valuable skills to police forces that strengthen policing and help forces to develop important links with communities. Recruitment and eligibility criteria of special constables are set locally at the discretion of Chief Officers.
The Home Office Employer Supported Policing (ESP) scheme is a partnership between employers and the police service aimed at encouraging employers to enable their staff to volunteer as special constables in the communities they serve. We will continue to work closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Citizens in Policing Programme and the College of Policing to support the development of a national approach to the attraction and training of special constables.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reach the public sector apprenticeship target.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home Office is six months into the implementation of the Apprenticeships Operating Model (AOM) designed to centralise all HR end-to-end processes (including streamlining recruitment activities through to programme onboarding). The growth of a dedicated team has been stood up to increase the quality and quality of apprenticeships for the future. This industry tested model has the capacity and capability to meet the minimum 2.3% statutory target (England workforce) annually. To enable delivery, there are strong governance frameworks in place which are closely connected to the Home Office People Strategy 2018 – 2023.
The refreshed AOM and strengthened workforce planning enables the dept. to address the target shortfall and annual ministerial commitments within a two-year period. Key to assessing performance is through the delivery of a robust Assurance Framework to ensure demand and delivery are aligned and reviewed quarterly and RAG status at Director General level.
In the coming six months, the Home Office is committed to prioritising apprenticeships recruitment across operational delivery (largest population in the department), policy and digital professions. This demonstrates the Home Office’s pledge to future skills development: attracting the best talent from the external labour market whilst creating opportunities for internal professional capability building.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding she has allocated to civil society and campaigning bodies in each of the last three years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Civil Society forms an essential part of our communities up and down the country. It includes large, national charities, social enterprises, volunteers and small grassroots organisations but what joins them all is the idea of creating social value to help build a better society.
Government funding to civil society is ring-fenced for particular projects or programmes. Grant agreement terms and conditions prohibit grant funding being used for paid for lobbying and political campaigning.
Information on grants awarded to civil society can be found be here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-grants-register
Published grant funding that was approved and was made available to organisations categorised as civil societies by the Home Office for following financial years was:
2017-18: £23,608,511
2016-17: £24,563,857
2015-16: £20,642,744
Information for financial year 2018-19 is not yet published.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she will take to reduce knife crime in Harlow.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This Government is determined to turn the tide on knife crime in all areas, wherever it occurs. Across England and Wales, we are recruiting 20,000 more police officers over the next three years and increasing sentences for violent criminals. We have made it easier for the police to use enhanced stop and search powers and we will introduce a new court order to make it easier for the police to stop and search those who have been convicted of knife crime.
We will also ensure that anyone charged with knife possession will appear before magistrates within days and we are also making £10 million available to the police to equip more officers with tasers. In addition, we have legislated through the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 to give the police more powers and to ensure knives are less likely to make their way on to the streets and we will also be introducing the Serious Violence Bill to place a duty on the police, councils and health authorities to work together to prevent and tackle serious violence.
Over the last 12 months, we have increased police funding, by £1 billion this year and announced that the amount of funding available to the policing system in 2020 to 2021 will increase by more than £1.1 billion. We have also announced a targeted £25 million to tackle county lines drug gangs, given the links between drugs, county lines and serious violence and we have provided the £100 million Serious Violence Fund to provide support to the 18 police force areas most affected by serious violence. Of this, Essex Police has been allocated £1.76 million to pay for a surge in police operational activity, such as increased patrols in greater numbers for longer periods of times, as well as new equipment and technology, improved intelligence and targeting, and an enhanced investigative response.
A further £1.16m from the Fund was invested in developing Essex Police’s Violence Reduction Unit.
On 29 December 2019 the Home Secretary announced a further £35 million to continue funding Violence Reduction Units. Essex Police have been allocated another £1.16m for 2020/21 to continue to tackle the root causes of serious violence.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the recruitment campaign for special constables.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Special constables bring diverse and valuable skills to police forces that strengthen policing and help forces to develop important links with communities. Recruitment and eligibility criteria of special constables are set locally at the discretion of Chief Officers.
The Home Office Employer Supported Policing (ESP) scheme is a partnership between employers and the police service aimed at encouraging employers to enable their staff to volunteer as special constables in the communities they serve. We will continue to work closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Citizens in Policing Programme and the College of Policing to support the development of a national approach to the attraction and training of special constables.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the flexibility of training times for special constables in England.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We continue to work closely with National Policing Leads to ensure consistency across forces in order to strengthen the national approach to special constables, including their development.
It is the responsibility of individual police forces to ensure that special constables receive the training required to carry out the role and decisions on how to train special constables are taken locally by the Chief Constable.
The College of Policing also provides bespoke training programmes for special constables, as well as national guidance on police standards, including training, which forces can access.