Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the level of funding that will be required for policing in (a) the West Midlands and (b) Walsall and Bloxwich constituency in each of the next three years; and how much funding her Department plans to provide for policing in those areas in the same period.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is determined to ensure the police have the resources they need to protect our communities.
On 19th November, the Home Secretary announced that government funding for policing will increase by over half a billion pounds; this includes an increase of over £260m in the core grant for police forces, additional funding for neighbourhood policing, the NCA and counter terrorism.
Force level funding allocations for the financial year 2025-26 will be confirmed at the police funding settlement. Funding for future years beyond 2025-26 will be set out in phase two of the Spending Review where we will want to consider police funding in the round. This will include how police funding is allocated to forces.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
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 policing funding formula for meeting need in the West Midlands.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is determined to ensure the police have the resources they need to protect our communities.
On 19th November, the Home Secretary announced that government funding for policing will increase by over half a billion pounds; this includes an increase of over £260m in the core grant for police forces, additional funding for neighbourhood policing, the NCA and counter terrorism.
Force level funding allocations for the financial year 2025-26 will be confirmed at the police funding settlement. Funding for future years beyond 2025-26 will be set out in phase two of the Spending Review where we will want to consider police funding in the round. This will include how police funding is allocated to forces.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) police officers and (b) police community support officers there were in (i) rural and (ii) urban areas in the West Midlands in each year since 2019; and if she will make an estimate of the number there will be in each of the next three years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold information on the number of police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) specifically in rural and urban areas of West Midlands.
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales on a bi-annual basis in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
The data is collected at Police Force Area (PFA) level only, and information at lower levels of geography is not collected.
Information on the number of police officers and PCSOs, broken down by PFA, as at 31 March 2007 to 2024 can be found in the ‘Police Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/669a910da3c2a28abb50d34b/open-data-table-police-workforce-240724.ods
Data on the police workforce as at 31 March 2025 is due to be published in Summer 2025.
The restoration of neighbourhood policing is at the heart of this Government’s plans for police reform. We are working with policing to implement a new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, which will be supported by delivering an additional 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles across the country and we will ensure every community has a named officer to turn to.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the distribution of Police Uplift Programme funding on the safety of poorer communities in the West Midlands.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
West Midlands Police was allocated a total of £2,547.1m during the period covered by the previous Government’s Police Uplift Programme.
By the end of the Police Uplift Programme West Midlands Police recruited 1,376 additional uplift officers (headcount) against a total three-year allocation of 1,218 officers.
Forces are operationally independent, and it is for Chief Constables and directly elected PCCs, and Mayors with PCC functions to make operational decisions on how best to use their available resources to meet local needs.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of additional (a) police officers, (b) police community support officers and (c) special constables there will be in each police force in each of the next three years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
As part of the Government’s Safer Streets mission, the Home Secretary has made a clear commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing through the introduction of a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee. This includes delivering an additional 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles up and down the country and ensuring every community has a named officer to turn to. Every part of the country needs to benefit from this pledge.
We are working closely with policing to implement this commitment and will announce our plans for the delivery of neighbourhood officers shortly.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) asylum applications and (b) other applications for leave to remain were awaiting a decision as of 1 January 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office publishes data on immigration applications in the following releases:
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he last met his French counterpart to discuss the matter of illegal migration to the UK by boats crossing the English Channel.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Home Secretary spoke to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on 21 December and during this conversation they discussed the ongoing joint efforts by the UK and French governments to stop small boat crossings of the English Channel.
The Home Secretary and Minister Darmanin have agreed to meet in the coming weeks to continue this discussion. Officials from across the Home Office engage regularly with French counterparts to continue to monitor our progress in stopping small boats, and our close cooperation with France led to a 36% reduction in small boat arrivals last year.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on foreign nationals convicted of attempted murder.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
This Government puts the rights of the British public before those of criminals, and we are clear that foreign criminals should be deported from the UK wherever it is legal and practical to do so.
Under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more. This is subject to several exceptions, including where to do so would be a breach of a person’s ECHR rights or the UK’s obligations under the Refugee Convention. Individuals are only returned to their country of origin when the Home Office and, where applicable, the Courts deem it is safe to do so. Each individual assessment is made against the background of any relevant caselaw and the latest available country information.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of violent crime to their country of origin if it is unsafe.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
This Government puts the rights of the British public before those of criminals, and we are clear that foreign criminals should be deported from the UK wherever it is legal and practical to do so.
Under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more. This is subject to several exceptions, including where to do so would be a breach of a person’s ECHR rights or the UK’s obligations under the Refugee Convention. Individuals are only returned to their country of origin when the Home Office and, where applicable, the Courts deem it is safe to do so. Each individual assessment is made against the background of any relevant caselaw and the latest available country information.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the current backlog of cases for those seeking Leave to Remain in the UK as at 1 October 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
UKVI are currently facing extremely high pressure globally and this has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
To tackle this the Home Office is pursuing a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives which will speed up decision making, reduce the time people spend in the system and reduce the numbers who are awaiting an interview or decision. This includes increasing the number of decision makers and providing improved training and career progression opportunities to aid retention of staff.
We are continuing to develop existing and new technology to help build on recent improvements such as digital interviewing and moving away from a paper-based system. We are streamlining and digitalising the case working process to enable more effective workflow, appointment booking and decision-making.