Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to tackle user-generated fraudulent and scam content on online platforms.
Answered by James Brokenshire
We know that people are spending more time online during this period and this can put them at greater risk of experiencing online harm. We have been working closely with technology companies, civil society and academia to understand and respond to the risks presented during this period.
The department is committed to tackling all forms of crime, including those that exploit technology and the internet. We are considering all routes to ensure law enforcement have the tools they need to go after these criminals and to protect the vulnerable.
HMG published new guidance on April 23rd to help all users to stay safe online during the coronavirus outbreak. It includes detailed advice on protecting personal data, cyber security and disinformation. It also provides additional guidance for parents on online safety issues affecting children such as child sexual abuse, exposure to age-inappropriate content and cyberbullying.
This Government is committed to delivering legislation to tackle online harms. This will introduce a statutory duty of care on companies to take steps to protect their users from harm, including child sexual exploitation and abuse. We are currently working swiftly to prepare a full Government response, which we will publish later this year. This will include more detailed proposals on online harms regulation and will be released alongside interim voluntary codes of practice on tackling online terrorist and child sexual exploitation and abuse content and activity. We will follow the full Government response by introducing Online Harms legislation.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of (a) the volume of user-generated fraudulent and scam content posted on online platforms and (b) the harm that content has caused to victims of that fraud.
Answered by James Brokenshire
We know that people are spending more time online during this period and this can put them at greater risk of experiencing online harm. We have been working closely with technology companies, civil society and academia to understand and respond to the risks presented during this period.
The department is committed to tackling all forms of crime, including those that exploit technology and the internet. We are considering all routes to ensure law enforcement have the tools they need to go after these criminals and to protect the vulnerable.
HMG published new guidance on April 23rd to help all users to stay safe online during the coronavirus outbreak. It includes detailed advice on protecting personal data, cyber security and disinformation. It also provides additional guidance for parents on online safety issues affecting children such as child sexual abuse, exposure to age-inappropriate content and cyberbullying.
This Government is committed to delivering legislation to tackle online harms. This will introduce a statutory duty of care on companies to take steps to protect their users from harm, including child sexual exploitation and abuse. We are currently working swiftly to prepare a full Government response, which we will publish later this year. This will include more detailed proposals on online harms regulation and will be released alongside interim voluntary codes of practice on tackling online terrorist and child sexual exploitation and abuse content and activity. We will follow the full Government response by introducing Online Harms legislation in this session.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many fires in residential properties have been caused by gas faults in the last (a) 12 months, (b) five years and (c) 10 years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Fire is a devolved matter and Home Office is responsible only for fire in England.
Home Office publishes incident level statistics on dwelling fires in England including cause of fire and ignition power, and on fire-related fatalities in England including cause of fire. These can be found in the ‘Dwelling fires dataset’ and ‘Fire-related dataset’ here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-incident-level-datasets
From these, the data in the tables below can be extracted. Record level information is published from 2010/11 - although the national Incident Recording System began in April 2009 there are a few minor issues with the 2009/10 records which mean that, while statistics at higher levels are robust, some of the incident level records are not of a sufficient quality to publish.
The most recent estimates of the economic cost of fire were published by the Department for Communities and Local Government for 2008. This can be found here: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121105004836/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/corporate/pdf/1838338.pdf
Table 1. Number of dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’, where the ignition power was either electricity or gas.
| Ignition power | ||||
| Electric |
| Gas | ||
Financial year | Number | % of all dwelling fires |
| Number | % of all dwelling fires |
2010/11 | 6,778 | 19% |
| 307 | 1% |
2011/12 | 6,595 | 19% |
| 256 | 1% |
2012/13 | 6,851 | 21% |
| 272 | 1% |
2013/14 | 6,462 | 20% |
| 245 | 1% |
2014/15 | 6,487 | 21% |
| 201 | 1% |
2015/16 | 6,247 | 20% |
| 194 | 1% |
2016/17 | 6,374 | 21% |
| 202 | 1% |
2017/18 | 6,386 | 21% |
| 182 | 1% |
Table 2. Number of fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’
| Fire-related fatalities | |
Financial year | Number | % of all dwelling fire fatalities |
2010/11 | 18 | 7% |
2011/12 | 29 | 12% |
2012/13 | 15 | 7% |
2013/14 | 23 | 11% |
2014/15 | 20 | 10% |
2015/16 | 15 | 7% |
2016/17 | 17 | 8% |
2017/18 | 92 | 35% |
Note that 71 of the 92 fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’ in 2017/18 (Table 2) are from the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been injured or killed by fires caused by electrical faults in residential properties in the last (a) year, (b) five years and (c) 10 years in (i) England, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Wales and (iv) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Fire is a devolved matter and Home Office is responsible only for fire in England.
Home Office publishes incident level statistics on dwelling fires in England including cause of fire and ignition power, and on fire-related fatalities in England including cause of fire. These can be found in the ‘Dwelling fires dataset’ and ‘Fire-related dataset’ here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-incident-level-datasets
From these, the data in the tables below can be extracted. Record level information is published from 2010/11 - although the national Incident Recording System began in April 2009 there are a few minor issues with the 2009/10 records which mean that, while statistics at higher levels are robust, some of the incident level records are not of a sufficient quality to publish.
The most recent estimates of the economic cost of fire were published by the Department for Communities and Local Government for 2008. This can be found here: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121105004836/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/corporate/pdf/1838338.pdf
Table 1. Number of dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’, where the ignition power was either electricity or gas.
| Ignition power | ||||
| Electric |
| Gas | ||
Financial year | Number | % of all dwelling fires |
| Number | % of all dwelling fires |
2010/11 | 6,778 | 19% |
| 307 | 1% |
2011/12 | 6,595 | 19% |
| 256 | 1% |
2012/13 | 6,851 | 21% |
| 272 | 1% |
2013/14 | 6,462 | 20% |
| 245 | 1% |
2014/15 | 6,487 | 21% |
| 201 | 1% |
2015/16 | 6,247 | 20% |
| 194 | 1% |
2016/17 | 6,374 | 21% |
| 202 | 1% |
2017/18 | 6,386 | 21% |
| 182 | 1% |
Table 2. Number of fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’
| Fire-related fatalities | |
Financial year | Number | % of all dwelling fire fatalities |
2010/11 | 18 | 7% |
2011/12 | 29 | 12% |
2012/13 | 15 | 7% |
2013/14 | 23 | 11% |
2014/15 | 20 | 10% |
2015/16 | 15 | 7% |
2016/17 | 17 | 8% |
2017/18 | 92 | 35% |
Note that 71 of the 92 fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’ in 2017/18 (Table 2) are from the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what has been the financial cost of fires in residential properties in the last (a) year, (b) five years and (c) 10 years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Fire is a devolved matter and Home Office is responsible only for fire in England.
Home Office publishes incident level statistics on dwelling fires in England including cause of fire and ignition power, and on fire-related fatalities in England including cause of fire. These can be found in the ‘Dwelling fires dataset’ and ‘Fire-related dataset’ here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-incident-level-datasets
From these, the data in the tables below can be extracted. Record level information is published from 2010/11 - although the national Incident Recording System began in April 2009 there are a few minor issues with the 2009/10 records which mean that, while statistics at higher levels are robust, some of the incident level records are not of a sufficient quality to publish.
The most recent estimates of the economic cost of fire were published by the Department for Communities and Local Government for 2008. This can be found here: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121105004836/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/corporate/pdf/1838338.pdf
Table 1. Number of dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’, where the ignition power was either electricity or gas.
| Ignition power | ||||
| Electric |
| Gas | ||
Financial year | Number | % of all dwelling fires |
| Number | % of all dwelling fires |
2010/11 | 6,778 | 19% |
| 307 | 1% |
2011/12 | 6,595 | 19% |
| 256 | 1% |
2012/13 | 6,851 | 21% |
| 272 | 1% |
2013/14 | 6,462 | 20% |
| 245 | 1% |
2014/15 | 6,487 | 21% |
| 201 | 1% |
2015/16 | 6,247 | 20% |
| 194 | 1% |
2016/17 | 6,374 | 21% |
| 202 | 1% |
2017/18 | 6,386 | 21% |
| 182 | 1% |
Table 2. Number of fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’
| Fire-related fatalities | |
Financial year | Number | % of all dwelling fire fatalities |
2010/11 | 18 | 7% |
2011/12 | 29 | 12% |
2012/13 | 15 | 7% |
2013/14 | 23 | 11% |
2014/15 | 20 | 10% |
2015/16 | 15 | 7% |
2016/17 | 17 | 8% |
2017/18 | 92 | 35% |
Note that 71 of the 92 fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’ in 2017/18 (Table 2) are from the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many fires caused by electrical faults there have been in residential properties in the last (a) year, (b) five years and (c) 10 years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Fire is a devolved matter and Home Office is responsible only for fire in England.
Home Office publishes incident level statistics on dwelling fires in England including cause of fire and ignition power, and on fire-related fatalities in England including cause of fire. These can be found in the ‘Dwelling fires dataset’ and ‘Fire-related dataset’ here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-incident-level-datasets
From these, the data in the tables below can be extracted. Record level information is published from 2010/11 - although the national Incident Recording System began in April 2009 there are a few minor issues with the 2009/10 records which mean that, while statistics at higher levels are robust, some of the incident level records are not of a sufficient quality to publish.
The most recent estimates of the economic cost of fire were published by the Department for Communities and Local Government for 2008. This can be found here: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121105004836/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/corporate/pdf/1838338.pdf
Table 1. Number of dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’, where the ignition power was either electricity or gas.
| Ignition power | ||||
| Electric |
| Gas | ||
Financial year | Number | % of all dwelling fires |
| Number | % of all dwelling fires |
2010/11 | 6,778 | 19% |
| 307 | 1% |
2011/12 | 6,595 | 19% |
| 256 | 1% |
2012/13 | 6,851 | 21% |
| 272 | 1% |
2013/14 | 6,462 | 20% |
| 245 | 1% |
2014/15 | 6,487 | 21% |
| 201 | 1% |
2015/16 | 6,247 | 20% |
| 194 | 1% |
2016/17 | 6,374 | 21% |
| 202 | 1% |
2017/18 | 6,386 | 21% |
| 182 | 1% |
Table 2. Number of fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’
| Fire-related fatalities | |
Financial year | Number | % of all dwelling fire fatalities |
2010/11 | 18 | 7% |
2011/12 | 29 | 12% |
2012/13 | 15 | 7% |
2013/14 | 23 | 11% |
2014/15 | 20 | 10% |
2015/16 | 15 | 7% |
2016/17 | 17 | 8% |
2017/18 | 92 | 35% |
Note that 71 of the 92 fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires caused by ‘faulty fuel supplies’ or ‘faulty appliances and leads’ in 2017/18 (Table 2) are from the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many properties have been bought by Serco for the purpose of housing asylum seekers in each parliamentary constituency in the Wigan local authority area; and how many asylum seekers have been housed in each such constituency.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Serco have bought no properties in Wigan as fulfilment of their contractual obligations with regard to accommodation demand is met entirely through the private rented sector.
The Home Office publishes quarterly data on the number of asylum seekers in Section 95 dispersal accommodation, by local authority. As part of the regional dispersal policy established in 2000, the advisory cluster limits set by the Home Office of 1 asylum seeker for every 200 of the settled population, apply to local authority area only. Data regarding the precise locations of asylum applicants cannot be provided at ward or constituency level as to do so would incur disproportionate costs and be precluded by the provisions of the Data Protection Act, given that individuals could reasonably be identified by such data.
In Q3 2015 there were 664 in dispersed accommodation in Wigan (Asylum Vol 4. Table 16q).
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2015/asylum
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions her Department has had with Serco on the housing of asylum seekers in Wigan.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Home Office officials monitor and conduct regular daily discussions with all COMPASS providers about management and execution of the contract, including the short-term use of contingency accommodation arrangements such as those employed by Serco in Wigan.
Home Office officials have been very clear with its providers that all measures to increase procurement of suitable accommodation must be taken to ensure that accommodation consistently matches demand.