Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
What estimate she has made of the total number of police officers (a) recruited by the Metropolitan Police in 2020 and (b) due to be recruited by that force in 2021.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We are increasing the number of police officers across England and Wales by 20,000 by March 2023.
In the calendar year 2020, the Metropolitan police recruited 3,121 police officers. This figure includes officers recruited as part of the Government’s national uplift programme as well as those recruited to backfill leavers. From January to March 2021 the force recruited 598 officers.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether representatives of the business travel sector will be included in her Department's industry working group on helping to implement the 14 day quarantine for air passengers entering the UK during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Secretary hosted an industry roundtable with the Aviation, Maritime and Security Minister on 4 June to discuss the health measures at the Border. This meeting was attended by representatives from all international travel modes.
The Department is now working with colleagues across HM Government on behalf of the Secretary of State to convene a second round table to further discuss the measures and our plans for reviewing these. Arrangements for this meeting, including attendees, have not yet been determined, but will be identified in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the wave 2 police officer recruitment targets for each police force area in England and Wales for 2021-22 will be published.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is delivering on the people’s priorities by recruiting 20,000 police officers over the next three years. The allocation of the first 6,000 additional officers to be recruited across England and Wales by the end of March 2021 was announced in October 2019.
Allocations for years two and three of the uplift will be considered in the context of the Spending Review.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-office-announces-first-wave-of-20000-police-officer-uplift
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the incidence of vishing fraud.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Home Office do not hold any data on the incidence of vishing fraud. Vishing is when fraudsters obtain personal details of a victim by phone, usually with the intention of using this information to commit fraud. It is an enabler to commit fraud, rather than a fraud type in itself. The Home Office only collects data on the number of incidents of frauds, with no breakdown currently available for enablers used to commit them.
The Joint Fraud Taskforce, which brings together government, law enforcement and industry is considering options to reduce social engineering, alongside other initiatives to combat fraud more broadly.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) ability and (b) willingness of police forces to catch those using their mobile phone while driving.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
There has been no assessment made of the enforcement by the police of the offence of driving whilst using a mobile phone. The enforcement of this offence is an operational matter for individual Chief Officers of police.
The attached table, “Fixed Penalty Notices” includes figures for Fixed Penalty Notices for use of mobile phones whilst driving, broken down by Police Force Area and by Year.
Based on information provided by the Ministry of Justice, statistics on offenders found guilty and sentenced, including sentence outcomes, for using or causing others to use a mobile phone whilst driving, at all courts in England and Wales, by police force area, from 2005 to 2015, can be viewed using the ‘Motoring data tool: with criminal justice area’ in the annual publication, linked below:- https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2015
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what statistics her Department holds on (a) convictions and (b) fines for mobile phone use while driving in each police force area.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
There has been no assessment made of the enforcement by the police of the offence of driving whilst using a mobile phone. The enforcement of this offence is an operational matter for individual Chief Officers of police.
The attached table, “Fixed Penalty Notices” includes figures for Fixed Penalty Notices for use of mobile phones whilst driving, broken down by Police Force Area and by Year.
Based on information provided by the Ministry of Justice, statistics on offenders found guilty and sentenced, including sentence outcomes, for using or causing others to use a mobile phone whilst driving, at all courts in England and Wales, by police force area, from 2005 to 2015, can be viewed using the ‘Motoring data tool: with criminal justice area’ in the annual publication, linked below:- https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2015
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support the Metropolitan Police in tackling terrorism in London.
Answered by John Hayes
We have ensured the police have the necessary powers and resources to tackle the terrorist threat, including in London, where the Metropolitan Police play a leading role in tackling terrorism across the country.
Counter-Terrorism Policing spending will be protected over the next Spending Review period. Indeed, for 2016/17 it will be increased in real terms to £670 million for England and Wales. An additional £34 million will also be provided to enable a national uplift in armed policing capability and capacity to respond more quickly and effectively to a firearms attack.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to prepare for the implementation of the proposed General Data Protection Regulation; which non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and agencies overseen by her Department will be affected by that regulation; and what estimate she has made of the potential liability of her Department, its agencies and NDPBs in connection with that proposed regulation.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Negotiations on the proposed General Data Protection Regulation are still continuing and we have taken into account the likely impact on Government Departments, NDPBs and agencies. Once the outcome of trilogue negotiations between the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the Commission are complete, and the Regulation has been adopted, the liabilities will be further assessed. There will then follow a minimum implementation period of 2 years. Between now and then, Government departments who will be affected by the Regulation are closely involved in work led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to consider the implications of the text as it develops through the negotiating process.