Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how long the average waiting period is for a conclusive grounds judgment through the National Referral Mechanism.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics regarding the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). These include the average time taken to make a Conclusive Grounds Decision. The latest published NRM statistics can be found here:
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether money allocated to people under the Windrush Compensation Scheme is exempted from consideration in means tested financial assessments.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Payments made under the Windrush Compensation Scheme are disregarded in the calculation of Universal Credit and other DWP means-tested benefits.
This means that the money paid to claimants in compensation will not be taken into account when eligibility for these benefits is assessed.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many weapons have been handed in under the surrender scheme as part of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 by (a) type of weapon and (b) the amount paid out in compensation.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government ran the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 surrender and compensation scheme from 10 December 2020 to 9 March 2021 to allow members of the public to surrender to the police those weapons covered by the scheme and to claim compensation from the Home Office. The weapons concerned were specific knives, offensive weapons, rapid firing rifles and bump stocks, as specified in the Act. The total number of weapons surrendered by weapon type and by the amount of compensation paid is set out in the tables below.
Following the successful completion of the scheme, the Government commenced the provisions in the Offensive Weapons Act relating to the possession of these weapons on 14 July.
FIREARMS
Weapon Type | Total number surrendered | Total compensation paid |
Lever release rifles | 1,000 | £2,783,859.46 |
MARS rifles | 133 | £262,470.25 |
Bump stock | 1 | £0 |
FIREARMS ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT
| Total number surrendered | Total compensation paid |
Ancillary equipment | 32,348 | £781,766.40 |
OFFENSIVE WEAPONS
Weapon type | Total number surrendered | Total compensation paid |
Flick knife | 719 | £16,852.50 |
Gravity knife | 53 | £2,916.85 |
Zombie knife | 224 | £2,299.82 |
Cyclone knife | 9 | £173.74 |
Curved sword | 255 | £13,536.33 |
Baton | 2,991 | £30,377.09 |
Stealth knife | 17 | £51 |
Disguised knife | 41 | £205 |
Knuckle Duster | 959 | £2,290.06 |
Swordstick | 27 | £3,227.91 |
Handclaw | 3 | £27 |
Belt buckle knife | 8 | £40 |
Push dagger | 865 | £1,781 |
Hollow kubotan | 23 | £98 |
Footclaw | 1 | £7 |
Shuriken | 94 | £405 |
Balisong | 68 | £1,538 |
Telescopic truncheon | 8,504 | £170,110 |
Blowpipe | 61 | £854 |
Kusari gama | 4 | £105 |
Kusari | 38 | £380 |
Kyoketsu shoge | 1 | £20 |
Source: the information has been drawn from the Offensive Weapons Act surrender and compensation scheme casework tool using the Claimed Weapons by Coding (numbers of weapons) and Weapons by Coding (compensation values) reports.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she consulted groups representing or supporting suspects on the change from in-person to remote legal service (a) before and (b) after that change was implemented.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Joint Interim Interview Protocol was developed by the CPS, NPCC, Law Society, Criminal Law Solicitor’s Association and the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association as a temporary requirement at the start of the pandemic to ensure the functioning of the criminal justice system was maintained. An exit strategy from the protocol is ongoing and will continue to be reviewed in accordance with the Government’s ‘road map’ for removing national restrictions. It is for the signatories to this protocol – the NPCC, CPS and solicitors’ organisations – to determine how this should progress. Since stage 3 of the roadmap out of lockdown on 17 May, solicitors have been required to attend interviews with children and vulnerable adults in person and ensure the most vulnerable in society receive in person support.
The Home Office has been chairing a weekly operational meeting with custody partners (Independent Custody Visiting Association, National Appropriate Adult Network, NPCC, Police Federation, Law Society and others) since March 2020. This has allowed for effective communication, feedback and learning to be embedded and the operational impact of the interview protocol to be assessed on a continuing basis.
The NPCC monitor compliance with the interview protocol across force areas to ensure that detainees are providing informed consent to receive remote legal advice. ICVA and NAAN additionally provide regular feedback to the weekly meeting on the implementation of the interview protocol.
Academic research into the long term impacts of remote advice in police custody is ongoing and the Government awaits its findings with interest.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ensure that people who received remote legal advice in police custody gave informed consent to receive legal advice in that way.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Joint Interim Interview Protocol was developed by the CPS, NPCC, Law Society, Criminal Law Solicitor’s Association and the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association as a temporary requirement at the start of the pandemic to ensure the functioning of the criminal justice system was maintained. An exit strategy from the protocol is ongoing and will continue to be reviewed in accordance with the Government’s ‘road map’ for removing national restrictions. It is for the signatories to this protocol – the NPCC, CPS and solicitors’ organisations – to determine how this should progress. Since stage 3 of the roadmap out of lockdown on 17 May, solicitors have been required to attend interviews with children and vulnerable adults in person and ensure the most vulnerable in society receive in person support.
The Home Office has been chairing a weekly operational meeting with custody partners (Independent Custody Visiting Association, National Appropriate Adult Network, NPCC, Police Federation, Law Society and others) since March 2020. This has allowed for effective communication, feedback and learning to be embedded and the operational impact of the interview protocol to be assessed on a continuing basis.
The NPCC monitor compliance with the interview protocol across force areas to ensure that detainees are providing informed consent to receive remote legal advice. ICVA and NAAN additionally provide regular feedback to the weekly meeting on the implementation of the interview protocol.
Academic research into the long term impacts of remote advice in police custody is ongoing and the Government awaits its findings with interest.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the move to remote legal advice for suspects on the take up of legal advice by those detained and interviewed in police custody.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Joint Interim Interview Protocol was developed by the CPS, NPCC, Law Society, Criminal Law Solicitor’s Association and the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association as a temporary requirement at the start of the pandemic to ensure the functioning of the criminal justice system was maintained. An exit strategy from the protocol is ongoing and will continue to be reviewed in accordance with the Government’s ‘road map’ for removing national restrictions. It is for the signatories to this protocol – the NPCC, CPS and solicitors’ organisations – to determine how this should progress. Since stage 3 of the roadmap out of lockdown on 17 May, solicitors have been required to attend interviews with children and vulnerable adults in person and ensure the most vulnerable in society receive in person support.
The Home Office has been chairing a weekly operational meeting with custody partners (Independent Custody Visiting Association, National Appropriate Adult Network, NPCC, Police Federation, Law Society and others) since March 2020. This has allowed for effective communication, feedback and learning to be embedded and the operational impact of the interview protocol to be assessed on a continuing basis.
The NPCC monitor compliance with the interview protocol across force areas to ensure that detainees are providing informed consent to receive remote legal advice. ICVA and NAAN additionally provide regular feedback to the weekly meeting on the implementation of the interview protocol.
Academic research into the long term impacts of remote advice in police custody is ongoing and the Government awaits its findings with interest.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to end the facility for lawyers to give advice remotely to suspects.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Joint Interim Interview Protocol was developed by the CPS, NPCC, Law Society, Criminal Law Solicitor’s Association and the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association as a temporary requirement at the start of the pandemic to ensure the functioning of the criminal justice system was maintained. An exit strategy from the protocol is ongoing and will continue to be reviewed in accordance with the Government’s ‘road map’ for removing national restrictions. It is for the signatories to this protocol – the NPCC, CPS and solicitors’ organisations – to determine how this should progress. Since stage 3 of the roadmap out of lockdown on 17 May, solicitors have been required to attend interviews with children and vulnerable adults in person and ensure the most vulnerable in society receive in person support.
The Home Office has been chairing a weekly operational meeting with custody partners (Independent Custody Visiting Association, National Appropriate Adult Network, NPCC, Police Federation, Law Society and others) since March 2020. This has allowed for effective communication, feedback and learning to be embedded and the operational impact of the interview protocol to be assessed on a continuing basis.
The NPCC monitor compliance with the interview protocol across force areas to ensure that detainees are providing informed consent to receive remote legal advice. ICVA and NAAN additionally provide regular feedback to the weekly meeting on the implementation of the interview protocol.
Academic research into the long term impacts of remote advice in police custody is ongoing and the Government awaits its findings with interest.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to provide additional support to Lincolnshire Police following the expiry of its contract with G4S and its transition to insourcing services.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
All contractual matters between a police force and any third-party service provider are operational and financial decisions that are the responsibility of the force and locally accountable Police and Crime Commissioner.
If a force faces financial instability then they are able to make a Police Special Grant application. Guidance for Special Grant applications can be found on gov.uk and all applications meeting the criteria set within the guidance will be considered and a funding decision made in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what dates police forces received Violence Reduction Unit allocations in previous years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Programme level Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) funding was initially announced in April 2019. Police and Crime Commissioners were then advised in August of the individual amounts that they, working in partnership with other VRU representatives, would be eligible to apply for. The date at which individual VRU awards were confirmed varied, as this was dependent on successful completion of an application process and individual agreement of grant agreements. The following year (20/21), programme level VRU funding and the amounts that Violence Reduction Unit partnerships would be eligible to apply for via Police and Crime Commissioners was confirmed in December 2019. Again, the date at which individual VRU awards were confirmed varied, as this was dependent on successful completion of an application process and individual agreement of grant agreements. Programme level funding for 21/22 was announced in February 2021 and, as in previous years, the funding will be dependent on successful completion of an application process and individual agreement of grant agreements. Officials are in touch with the VRUs in relation to the applications for the 2021/22 funding round. We expect that the information on the applications will be shared in the near future. The applications will be accompanied by bespoke support from the Home Office, in order to enable VRUs to provide the strongest possible application.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the earliest date is that police forces can expect to receive 2021-22 Violence Reduction Unit allocations.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Programme level Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) funding was initially announced in April 2019. Police and Crime Commissioners were then advised in August of the individual amounts that they, working in partnership with other VRU representatives, would be eligible to apply for. The date at which individual VRU awards were confirmed varied, as this was dependent on successful completion of an application process and individual agreement of grant agreements. The following year (20/21), programme level VRU funding and the amounts that Violence Reduction Unit partnerships would be eligible to apply for via Police and Crime Commissioners was confirmed in December 2019. Again, the date at which individual VRU awards were confirmed varied, as this was dependent on successful completion of an application process and individual agreement of grant agreements. Programme level funding for 21/22 was announced in February 2021 and, as in previous years, the funding will be dependent on successful completion of an application process and individual agreement of grant agreements. Officials are in touch with the VRUs in relation to the applications for the 2021/22 funding round. We expect that the information on the applications will be shared in the near future. The applications will be accompanied by bespoke support from the Home Office, in order to enable VRUs to provide the strongest possible application.