Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the implementation of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The offence of assault against an emergency worker is the responsibility of Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the resale of stolen mobile phones.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, local government representatives, leading technology companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves. The Summit resulted in clear commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the problem, better understand the role of organised crime networks and identify the most effective means of tackling these crimes. This includes work to disrupt the resale of stolen phones, including exploring technological solutions to make devices harder to re-register or resell, and working with the police to better understand the routes used to sell stolen phones.
The Home Office continues to regularly engage with the police and other stakeholders to progress work to tackle this criminality and the Home Secretary will reconvene this group shortly to agree further actions.
In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. This power will support efforts to recover stolen phones before they can be resold.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her polices of trends in levels of theft of Royal Mail post boxes; and whether she has had recent discussions with Royal Mail on those trends.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
In the year ending June 2024, there were 6,290 ‘Theft of mail’ offences recorded by the police across England and Wales, a 26% decrease compared with the previous year.
Theft, including the theft of post boxes is a serious issue. This Government recognises the distress and disruption that theft and vandalism can cause, not only to businesses, but also to local communities and critical infrastructure.
That is why we are putting 13,000 additional police officers and personnel into neighbourhood policing roles. This will ensure that everyone has a named, contactable officer, responsive to local problems including the theft of Royal Mail post boxes.
The 2025-26 final Police Funding Settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1.2 billion when compared with the 2024-25 settlement and includes an additional £200 million to kickstart the first phase of the additional neighbourhood policing roles.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
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 offence of assault against an emergency worker on trends in the level of (a) arrests and (b) convictions of women.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The offence of assault against an emergency worker is the responsibility of Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the offence of assault against an emergency worker on women.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The offence of assault against an emergency worker is the responsibility of Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will conduct an equality impact assessment for the offence of assault against an emergency worker.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The offence of assault against an emergency worker is the responsibility of Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will monitor the number of Frontier Worker Permits held by non-resident workers in the offshore renewable energy sector; and what discussions officials in her Department have had with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on Frontier Worker Permits held by those workers.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Frontier Worker Permit scheme implements our commitments under the Citizens’ Rights Agreements to protect the rights of EU, other EEA and Swiss citizens who were frontier working in the UK before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020 for as long as they continue to be frontier workers.
It is not possible to extract data from Home Office systems on Frontier Worker permits by occupation. Accordingly, there have been no discussions with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero about Frontier Worker permit holders employed in the offshore renewable energy sector.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If she will take steps to monitor the number of Frontier Worker Permits held by non-resident workers in the offshore renewable energy sector; and what discussions her Department has had with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on this issue.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Frontier Worker Permit scheme implements our commitments under the Citizens’ Rights Agreements to protect the rights of EU, other EEA and Swiss citizens who were frontier working in the UK before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020 for as long as they continue to be frontier workers.
It is not possible to extract data from Home Office systems on Frontier Worker permits by occupation. Accordingly, there have been no discussions with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero about Frontier Worker permit holders employed in the offshore renewable energy sector.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to implement stalking protection notices that would be issued by police officers pending a full application to court.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) are civil orders which can be imposed on anyone who has carried out acts associated with stalking and who poses a risk. They are available to the police on application to the court and can impose restrictions considered necessary. The police may also apply for an interim SPO, for example, if there is an immediate risk of harm but further investigation is required to meet the criteria for a full SPO, or when the court is unable to provide the full order in time.
We are legislating through the Crime and Policing Bill to enable the courts to impose SPOs on conviction and acquittal of their own volition.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps is she taking to help reduce the number of GPS thefts from tractors on farms.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is committed to tackling rural crime, safeguarding rural areas through stronger measures to prevent equipment theft and strengthened neighbourhood policing.
We are committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, which aims to prevent the theft and re-sale of high-value equipment, particularly for use in an agricultural setting. We hope to introduce the necessary secondary legislation later this year.
This financial year we are providing the first Home Office funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit, a national policing unit which help forces tackle rural crime priorities and is a great example of farmers and police working together at national and local level including tackling equipment theft.
Additionally, the Crime and Policing Bill will introduce a new power for the police to enter and search premises to which items have been electronically tracked by GPS or other means, where the items are reasonably believed to have been stolen and are on those premises, and where it has not been reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant from a court.